Research Credit Enrollment

How many research credits should you take this semester? The best way to decide how many research credits to take is to have a conversation with your major professor. Set a goal with your major professor for when you plan to complete your thesis/dissertation. Then allocate your research credits between the semesters according to the rules below. If you have questions or need further clarity, please reach out to the Academic Program Specialist.

Instructions for research hours:

• M.S. Students

  Here are the rules to understand with research credits from the Grad School Graduate Handbook.

  1. You need to take 6 research credits to graduate.
  2. You have to be enrolled in a minimum of 6 hours (courses or research) in the spring or fall semester in order to be on assistantship for the full semester. You do not need to enroll in any credits for a summer semester in order to be on assistantship. There is a sliding scale for how long you can be on assistantship if you are enrolled in fewer than 6 hours during spring or fall.
  3. You can enroll in a maximum of 12 hours in fall and spring semesters and 9 hours in the summer. Enrolling in more than this requires special permission. Also note that you pay fees (not tuition) related to the number of hours enrolled, so enrolling in a large number of hours means you will have larger fees to pay that semester.
  4. You must enroll in at least 1 research hour in the semester that you graduate.
  5. The more credit hours that you take, the higher your payroll tax burden will be each semester. Keeping your credit load between 6-9 hours in spring and fall will ensure your net pay is higher and more predictable when budgeting.
  6. If you need to enroll in more than 6 research credits during your program, be prepared to be financially responsible for the tuition
  7. If you enroll in summer research credits, you can avoid paying some tax (but be sure you have enough research credits each term to stay on assistantship until your graduation)

  Implications for these rules:

  • #1 and #2 mean that you need to take enough research hours to have at least 6 credits (courses and research combined) every fall and spring.
  • #2 also means though that you don't want to take your research credits too early and then not be able to enroll in 6 hours and stay on assistantship in later semesters.
  • #4 is usually only relevant if you graduate in the summer. Even though you do not need to enroll in a credit hour in other summers to be on assistantship, you do need to enroll in at least 1 credit hour if you plan to graduate that summer.

  Some typical situations:

  • Let's assume that you took 18 hours of coursework in your first year. If you are going to have two more semesters before you graduate, then you would want to take 6 hours in each of the remaining two semesters. If you take 6 hours of courses in the first semester, then take 6 hours of research in the second semester. If you take 3 hours of courses each semester, then take 3 hours of research each semester.
  • Consider instead the situation where you started in fall and are going to graduate in December and have taking 18 hours of coursework by May. One option would be taking 3 hours of research in the summer, 3 hours of research in the fall, and 6 hours of courses in the fall. A second option would be taking 6 hours of research and 6 hours of courses in the fall.
  • A situation that you would like to avoid is where you take all your required research credits by December, but you want to graduate in May. The problem this creates is that you don't have any remaining research credits to enroll in spring, so you cannot be on assistantship in the spring. This is why it is important to talk with your major professor about how many research credits to enroll in and have a clear plan of when you will finish your thesis.
• Ph.D. Students

  Here are the rules to understand with research credits from the Grad School Graduate Handbook.

  1. You need to take 30 research credits to graduate.
  2. You must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 hours (courses or research) in the spring or fall semester in order to be on assistantship for the full semester. You do not need to enroll in any credits for a summer semester in order to be on assistantship. There is a sliding scale for how long you can be on assistantship if you are enrolled in fewer than 6 hours during spring or fall.
  3. You can enroll in a maximum of 12 hours in fall and spring semesters and 9 hours in the summer. Enrolling in more than this requires special permission. Also note that you pay fees (not tuition) related to the number of hours enrolled, so enrolling in a large number of hours means you will have larger fees to pay that semester.
  4. You must enroll in at least 1 research hour in the semester that you graduate.
  5. You must enroll in at least 1 credit hour in the semester that you take your prelim, including summer term
  6. You must be enrolled in at least 1 credit hour every fall and spring semester after passing your prelim to maintain candidacy. Failure to enroll in 1 credit hour means you must retake the prelim exam.
  7. The more credit hours that you take, the higher your payroll tax burden will be each semester. Keeping your credit load between 6-9 hours in spring and fall will ensure your net pay is higher and more predictable when budgeting.
  8. If you need to enroll in more than 30 research credits during your program, be prepared to be financially responsible for the tuition
  9. If you enroll in summer research credits, you can avoid paying some tax (but be sure you have enough research credits each term to stay on assistantship until your graduation)

  Implications of these rules:

  • #1 and #2 mean that you need to take enough research hours to have at least 6 credits (courses and research combined) every fall and spring.
  • #1 and #3 mean that you don't want to wait too long before you take your research credits. In other words, you don't want to delay taking research credits and then in your final semester need to take 21 hours of research.
  • #2 also means though that you don't want to take your research credits too early and then not be able to enroll in 6 hours and stay on assistantship in later semesters.
  • #4 is usually only relevant if you graduate in the summer. Even though you do not need to enroll in a credit hour in other summers to be on assistantship, you do need to enroll in at least 1 credit hour if you plan to graduate that summer.
  • #6 usually only applies in the situation where a student does not complete their dissertation by the end of their assistantship appointment. In these cases, students should know that they must continue enrolling in research credits to maintain their candidacy and the student is responsible for paying the tuition on those research credits at the nonresident tuition rate. There is an option to apply for a waiver to pay tuition at the resident rate in the semester immediately after losing assistantship, but the student must graduate in the semester after losing assistantship in order to receive the waiver.