Graduation Requirements: Graduate

Degree Completion Requirements

Once a student begins a master’s program at the University of Tennessee Southern, he/she has a maximum of five years to complete the degree. Individual programs may set shorter time limits.

Second Master’s Degrees

Students pursuing a second master’s degree at the University of Tennessee Southern may use credit for courses earned from the first the University of Tennessee Southern master’s degree if the credited course work is a requirement of both degrees and if the student earned a grade of “B” or better in the first attempt. Twenty-five percent of the credits towards the second master’s degree must be earned after the completion of the first master’s degree.

Academic Regulations

Graduate programs at the University of Tennessee Southern follow the same academic regulations as the undergraduate program, with the exceptions noted below.

Registration

To qualify as a full-time student requires registration for a minimum of nine credit hours in a semester or summer term. Degree seeking students who register for fewer than nine hours in any given semester/term will be classified as part-time students.

Pass-Fail

A student may enroll in a class on a pass-fail basis only with the permission of the instructor and the director of the particular graduate program. Classes taken on a pass-fail basis may not be used to satisfy any of the course requirements for a graduate program.

Repeated Courses for Graduate Students

Grades for all courses taken by graduate students will remain a permanent part of their transcript. Grades earned in a repeated course will not remove the previous grade earned in the course and both grades will count in the calculation of the cumulative GPA. No course may be repeated more than once and no more than two courses may be repeated and counted towards a degree.

Academic Probation and Suspension

Any candidate receiving a C+ or lower in any one course or a GPA below a 3.0 will be placed on academic probation. Should a graduate candidate receive a final grade of below a B- or an incomplete in any course, s/he will be required to meet with the program director. A second C+ or lower or a second semester with a GPA below 3.0 will result in dismissal. The graduate candidate in question may appeal to the Provost. A candidate must have a 3.0 cumulative GPA to graduate. Any grade of D or F results in dismissal.

Courses of Instruction

Courses numbered 500 and above are graduate level only courses. An undergraduate student at the University of Tennessee Southern who has a cumulative 3.00 GPA and who is within nine hours of graduation may receive written permission from the appropriate coordinator/director to take up to six hours of graduate courses. See admission of undergraduate students above for further information.