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    Dec 03, 2024  
2023-2024 Graduate Catalog 
    
2023-2024 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Enrollment



Student load

Fall/spring

Graduate students may, in general, schedule as many as 16 hours during any fall or spring term/semester. For the purpose of fulfilling the graduate residence requirement, a load of 9 graduate semester hours is considered to be a full load.

Graduate students may schedule a maximum of 9 hours in an eight-week session (8W1 or 8W2). For 3W1 (three-week one) the normal load for full-time students is 3 hours. Graduate students may schedule a maximum of 4 hours in 3W1 session.

Individual graduate programs may have the option to set lower maximum credit hour enrollment limits.

Graduate students enrolled only in undergraduate courses, for undergraduate credit, may request special consideration by the graduate school.

Note: Special restrictions apply to the load permitted to graduate teaching fellows and teaching assistants. The total load of course enrollment and teaching assignment may not exceed 16 semester hours in any fall or spring term/semester. Approval of the graduate school is required for loads in excess of this amount, but approval will not be granted for a combined load in excess of 18 semester hours.

Summer

A full-time graduate student with a GPA of at least 3.0 may select from sessions for a maximum of 18 hours. Constraints apply to graduate courses. Graduate students may schedule a maximum of 4 hours in a three week session (3W1), a maximum of 7 hours in each five week session (5W1, 5W2), a maximum of 9 hours in each eight week session (8W1, 8W2), or a maximum of 9 hours in a ten week session (10W). At no time during concurrently running summer sessions can graduate student enrollment exceed 10 semester hours.

For purposes of fulfilling the graduate residence requirements, a load of 9 graduate semester hours is considered a full load.

Graduate students enrolled only in undergraduate courses may request special consideration from the graduate school.

Overload

A graduate student can request an overload of the maximum number of hours allowed in a term/semester through the Toulouse Graduate School. All requests are reviewed and the student notified of the status of their request prior to the end of registration for a term/semester.

Enrollment certification

Enrollment verification and loan deferments are completed in the Registrar’s Office based upon a student having registered and paid tuition and fees according to the following criteria. See “Financial information ” in the Financial Information section of this catalog for loan deferment requirements.

Undergraduate

Full Time: fall, spring or summer terms/semesters, 12 or more hours.

Three-Quarter Time: fall, spring or summer terms/semesters, 9 to 11 hours.

Half Time: fall, spring or summer terms/semesters, 6 to 8 hours.

Graduate

Full Time: fall, spring or summer terms/semesters, 9 or more hours. Doctoral and master’s students enrolled in 3 or more hours of dissertation or thesis (courses numbered 5950/6950/6954) are considered full time. Students who receive Veteran’s benefits should work with the Veteran Benefits office (940-369-8021) to ensure benefits are applied correctly.

Three-Quarter Time: fall, spring or summer terms/semesters, 6 to 8 hours.

Half Time: fall, spring or summer terms/semesters, 5 hours.

Extension courses are considered non-traditional credit and are excluded for certification purposes.

International students also may request International Advising (Marquis Hall, first floor) to issue letters of enrollment for the use of foreign governments, embassies, scholarship agencies and banks.

Verification of enrollment/enrollment certificate

UNT student enrollment verifications are supplied by the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). Third parties such as health care companies, prospective employers, or insurance agencies seeking verification of enrollment may contact the NSC online by going to https://secure.studentclearinghouse.org/vs/Index.

Student enrollment verification self-service

Current and former UNT students may request their own enrollment verification/certification through a direct link in MyUNT. Enrollment verification certificates printed via the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) should be accepted as official and can be used for insurance companies, scholarships, military IDs, employment and all other services that require proof of enrollment at the University of North Texas. For more information, please see the Enrollment Verification/Certification page of the Registrar’s web site.

Auditing

Individuals fully eligible to enroll in the university may attend a class as an auditor with the written permissions from the department chair and the dean of the college or school in which the course is taught. The auditor will not receive college credit for the course, and cannot claim credit based on attendance; they will not be included on the class roll, and the instructor will not accept any papers, tests or examinations from the auditor.

Auditors pay only one required audit fee per term/semester regardless of the number of courses audited. Tuition and fee information is available online at sfs.unt.edu.

Permission forms for auditors are available to request after classes begin in the offices of their academic dean; the forms are not available during the official registration period.

A person 65 years of age or older may enroll as an auditor and observer without credit and without payment of a fee, if space is available and if approved by the department chair and the appropriate dean. Such enrollment entitles the person to library privileges, but not to instruction in applied music or physical education, the use of laboratory equipment and supplies, or admission to university-sponsored fine arts events. (Texas Education Code, Subchapter 54, Section 54.210 as added in 1975)

Registration

All registration and student requested schedule changes are conducted via web registration at my.unt.edu. Specific information and instructions as well as dates are found online at registrar.unt.edu and at my.unt.edu.

Late registration

Students who did not enroll during the official registration periods must pay an additional fee to enroll late. Refer to registrar.unt.edu for late registration information.

Concurrent enrollment at another institution

Graduate students must secure written permission from their academic program before registering for any course or courses at another institution while registered for any courses at UNT. (Exception: Enrollment at UNT for courses offered by Texas A&M–Commerce or Texas Woman’s University under the cooperative enrollment program of the Federation of North Texas Area Universities is not considered to be concurrent enrollment.)

Failure to secure the required permission for concurrent enrollment prior to registration at the second institution may cause UNT to refuse degree credit for the work taken elsewhere. In no case may the combined total of semester hours enrolled for at the two institutions exceed the maximum load permitted to graduate students at UNT.

Federation of North Texas Area Universities enrollment

Under arrangements agreed upon by the members of the Federation of North Texas Area Universities (University of North Texas, Texas A&M University–Commerce [TAMU–C] and Texas Woman’s University [TWU]), graduate students in specified degree programs offered jointly by the members of the federation may enroll at their home institution for graduate courses offered by the other two universities. To be eligible for cross-registration at either of the other two universities, students must be admitted to a degree program or be working on a certification plan at the home institution. A list of jointly offered degree programs appears in The University section of this publication.

UNT graduate students who have been admitted to a jointly offered degree program and who wish to enroll for graduate courses offered by one of the other universities should first secure their major advisor’s approval of registration for a specific course or courses. The Federation representative will register students in the desired TAMU–C or TWU courses under the appropriate UNT departmental prefix and course number 5900 or 5910 (for master’s-level courses) or 6900 or 6910 (for doctoral-level courses). Section numbers for such enrollment are 790 through 799. The course title appearing on the UNT academic transcript will be “Special Problems” and the course topic will be identical to that of the course being offered by the other institution. Class schedules for both TAMU–C and TWU may be searched on their perspective university’s web site.

The registration procedure described above is available only to graduate students admitted to one of the degree programs jointly offered by the federation, and applies to graduate courses only.

Enrollment at the Universities Center at Dallas

Students may enroll for graduate (or upper division undergraduate) courses offered by UNT at the Universities Center at Dallas (UCD), a Multi-Institutional Teaching Center (MITC) located at 1901 Main St. in downtown Dallas. For more information, call 214-752-5533.

Enrollment at the Collin Higher Education Center

In 2009 the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the Collin Higher Education Center (CHEC), where UNT cooperates with Collin College and other universities in the offering of undergraduate and graduate courses and degrees. Enrollment is open to all UNT students.

The CHEC is located at 3452 Spur 399, McKinney, Texas 75059. For current information about the CHEC, call 972-599-3126, visit the CHEC web site at www.collin.edu/chec/, or call the UNT Office of Admissions at 940-565-2681.

University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth 

The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, located 3 miles west of downtown in Fort Worth’s Cultural District, is a university focused on educating health care providers, professionals, researchers and scientists. Its schools are the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, School of Health Professions and College of Pharmacy. With a strong, values-based culture, HSC educates the health care providers and professionals of the future while expanding the frontiers of scientific discovery.

Evening and Saturday classes

A large number of classes at the graduate level are scheduled for one three-hour meeting per week during the spring and fall terms/semesters, usually on Saturday morning or on a weekday evening. These classes carry residence credit, thus enabling many people in the Dallas–Fort Worth area to pursue graduate study while continuing their employment. Consult the online schedule of classes at www.registrar.unt.edu, available prior to spring and fall registration, for schedule details.

A few of these classes also are available during summer terms/sessions. Consult the online schedule of classes at www.registrar.unt.edu.

Off-campus courses

Many graduate courses for residence credit are available at various locations in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. Registration procedures for off-campus residence courses are the same as for courses offered on the UNT campus. Initial application for admission to the Toulouse Graduate School must be submitted to the graduate admission’s office on the Denton campus. Information concerning specific off-campus courses is available prior to and during each registration period.

Students considering enrollment for courses at off-campus centers are reminded of the rule of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, that at least one-third of the semester hours required for any graduate degree from UNT must be completed with UNT courses.

Schedule changes

Adding courses

Graduate students must initiate all requests for adding courses in their academic department after online registration ends. Consult the online academic calendar for dates during which adds are allowed.

Dropping courses

Students who wish to drop a course before the 12th class day of fall or spring terms/semesters or before the equivalent dates for 8 week and summer sessions may do so in the Registrar’s Office or at my.unt.edu. After the 12th class day for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for 8 week and summer sessions, students must first submit a completed Request to Drop Class form to the Registrar’s Office. Students applying for financial aid are required to notify Financial Aid and Scholarships before dropping any class to learn how it will affect current or future financial aid eligibility.

Students who drop a course between the 12th day of class and the designated day of a given semester’s 10th week for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for 8 week and summer sessions, will receive a grade of W.

If a student fails to drop a course, even if the student does not attend the course, a grade of F will be recorded.

Faculty and staff will not drop a student from a course automatically for nonattendance; the student must initiate the process and complete the necessary steps to ensure the class is dropped.

Drop procedures must be completed by 5 p.m. on the deadline dates specified in the online academic calendar. After these dates a student may not drop a course.

See the online Registration Guides at registrar.unt.edu for drop procedure and instructions.

Class attendance

Regular and punctual class attendance is expected. Although in general students are graded on intellectual effort and performance rather than attendance, absences may lower the student’s grade where class attendance and class participation are deemed essential by the faculty member. In those classes where attendance is considered part of the grade, the instructor should inform students at the semester’s beginning by a written notice. Departments and similar academic units have authority to establish a department or course attendance policy, so long as the policy is in accord with the above stipulations.

Authorized absences

Absences due to participation in sponsored activities must be approved in advance by the department chair and academic dean. Within three days after the absence, students must obtain authorized absence cards from the Dean of Students Office for presentation to their instructors. Students with authorized absence cards may make up the work missed when practical or be given special allowance so they are not penalized for the absence.

Absence for religious holidays

In accordance with state law, students absent due to the observance of a religious holiday may take examinations or complete assignments scheduled for the day(s) missed, including those missed for travel, within a reasonable time after the absence. The student should notify the instructor of each class of the date of the anticipated absence as early in the term/semester as possible.

Only holidays or holy days observed by a religion for which the place of worship is exempt from property taxation under Section 11.20 of the Tax Code may be included. A student who is excused under this provision may not be penalized for the absence, but the instructor may respond appropriately if the student fails to satisfactorily complete the assignment or examination.

Students called to active duty

Texas Education Code 54.006(f) indicates, “Beginning with the summer semester of 1990, if a student withdraws from an institution of higher education because the student is called to active military service, the institution, at the student’s option, shall: (1) refund the tuition and fees paid by the student for the term/semester in which the student withdraws; (2) grant a student, who is eligible under the institution’s guidelines, an incomplete grade in all courses by designating ‘withdrawn-military’ on the student’s transcript; or (3) as determined by the instructor, assign an appropriate final grade or credit to a student who has satisfactorily completed a substantial amount of course work and who has demonstrated sufficient mastery of the course material.”

In order to be eligible for options under the law, a UNT student must produce a copy of his or her orders. Withdrawal may or may not require that the student talk with each instructor depending on the timing in the term/semester; however, the latter two options do require that the student talk with his or her instructors and come to a decision as to which solution is best for each class given the timing and circumstances. A student called to active duty may consider the following options:

  1. withdrawal for a full refund of appropriate tuition and fees;
  2. incomplete grades with the one-year I (Incomplete) removal time limit starting with the end of duty; and/or
  3. a final grade if the course is essentially over and the course material has been sufficiently mastered (determined by the instructor).

Withdrawal from UNT

A student may withdraw from UNT at any time prior to two weeks before the first day of final examinations for fall or spring terms/semesters or the equivalent dates for 8 week and summer sessions by making a request in the Dean of Students Office. The grade of W is recorded for each course in which a withdrawn student was enrolled.

Official dates and deadlines for withdrawing are specified in the online academic calendar.

To receive a refund for a parking permit, a student must return the permit to Parking Services, located in the Highland Parking Garage.

Pre-finals days

So that students can more adequately prepare for their final examinations, the University of North Texas (UNT) sets aside days preceding final examinations during which no new material may be disseminated and extracurricular and organizational activities are suspended.

During pre-finals days, no new curricular content will be disseminated; student organizations do not meet; and no extracurricular activities will be required. Any deviation from these requirements must be approved in advance by the appropriate dean or director.

On the Friday of the week immediately preceding final exams (reading day), no classes are held.

Final examinations

Faculty members are required to administer final exams at the designated times during the exam week of each long semester and during the specified day of each summer term if a final examination for the course is required. Any deviation from the published schedule must be approved in advance by the appropriate academic dean.

Students who have more than two final examinations scheduled on one day may request to reschedule one of the examinations on another day during the final examination period.

Commencement exercises

Commencement exercises are held in December and May. Diplomas are mailed to candidates approximately eight weeks after graduation has been verified.