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Any graduate student utilizing the assistance of a faculty member or any facility of The University of Alabama in relation to a degree program must be registered in an appropriate course reflecting that activity. This includes such activities as coursework, thesis and dissertation advising and reading, comprehensive examinations, and other degree requirements. Registration in courses numbered 599 (Thesis Research), 699 (Dissertation Research), 598 (Master's Research), and 698 (Doctoral Research) may be repeated.
If the student's undergraduate preparation in either the major or minor subject is considered inadequate, certain preliminary (undergraduate and/or graduate) courses will be prescribed by the department or school concerned. These courses become prerequisites and do not carry graduate credit. They must be taken, if possible, during the first semester of enrollment.
The student's course of study is selected in consultation with the head of the major department or the chairperson of the graduate committee, and approved by that person and the dean of the Graduate School.
The normal course load for a fall or spring semester is 12 credit hours; the maximum course load for a semester is 15 credit hours.
Students may register for a maximum of 6 semester hours in a summer term or 12 hours during an entire summer dual session. Only 3 semester hours may be taken during the Interim session. Taking more than 12 semester hours in a summer dual term can be justified only in extraordinary circumstances and requires written approval of the Graduate School.
A student who is employed part-time is expected to take a reduced load. The course load of a fully employed student will be evaluated according to the individual graduate program. Fully employed students should be registered in no more than one course plus thesis or dissertation research.
If a student fails to register for three consecutive years, the student must reapply for admission.
Students with regular or conditional admission status may hold graduate assistantships. Students who have received academic warnings or are in nondegree status may not hold graduate assistantships. Conditionally admitted students whose graduate GPAs fall below 3.0 at any time during their conditional status will not be allowed to hold graduate teaching assistantships until such time as the GPA has increased to 3.0 or better. Students with provisional language admission status may only hold an assistantship that is externally funded through a contract or grant.
All graduate assistants must be full-time graduate students. However, "full-time" means from 1 to 12 hours of graduate work, depending upon the obligations of the assistantship. A 1.00 full-time equivalent (FTE) assistantship award would represent a 40-hour work week. Minimum full-time enrollment loads for graduate assistants vary with the FTE of their awards. Maximum course loads are also recommended for each FTE level. The following table illustrates these limits. Normally, a one-course overload while holding an assistantship requires only departmental approval.
| FTE | Minimum Hours | Maximum Hours |
| Level | Required | Recommended |
| 1.00 (40 hours) | 1 | 3 |
| 0.75 (30 hours) | 3 | 6 |
| 0.50 (20 hours) | 6 | 9 |
| 0.25 (10 hours) | 9 | 12 |
Ordinarily the Graduate School allows no more than a 0.75 combined FTE at any one time during the fall and spring semesters regardless of enrolled hours. The limitations described in this section apply to any combination of programs taken on campus, off campus, through weekend college, or by distance learning.
Please note that full-time status here is not the same as that required for other registration and financial situations. For example, fellowships, financial aid regulations, resident visa rules, UA System Cooperative Exchange Program, INS and IRS regulations, and other academic policies use different status definitions with regard to full-time. For more information, please refer to the department(s) administering these other programs.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools requires that all graduate teaching assistants with primary responsibility for teaching a course for credit and/or assigning grades must first complete a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline and then must have ongoing supervision of their teaching.
A graduate student employed as a part-time temporary instructor (PTTI) to teach a credit-bearing course must meet the SACS 18-hour requirement. Such PTTIs do not receive tuition waivers, must pay taxes on the income they earn as PTTIs, and must comply with "Personnel Policies for Student Employees of The University of Alabama" (http://graduate.ua.edu/ga_guide/).
Graduate students are subject to the same rules regarding class attendance, the performance of assigned tasks, and course examinations as undergraduate students. Since graduate work presupposes specialization and thorough investigation, students will not be permitted to overload themselves with courses.
Continuous Registration for Doctoral Students
Once a student has met the requirements for admission to candidacy for a doctoral degree, the student is expected to pursue completion of the dissertation without interruption by enrolling each semester for at least 3 hours of dissertation research. This is true whether or not the student has submitted an Application for Admission to Candidacy (http://graduate.ua.edu/forms/formidx.html). The only exception is for D.M.A. students who complete a document rather than a dissertation. D.M.A. students may register for one hour of document research during a semester but must maintain continuous enrollment. A Ph.D. student must have completed a minimum of 24 hours of such work upon completion of the dissertation. The amount of dissertation research for which a student enrolls in any given semester should be commensurate with the progress a student is expected to make on the dissertation, as well as reflective of the extent to which University facilities and faculty time are invested in the proposed activities.
To assist faculty and students in determining the appropriate registration for doctoral research, the following guidelines are recommended.
Three semester hours. The work and writing of the dissertation are complete and only final grammatical corrections and the oral examination on the dissertation remain to be accomplished; or, no substantial progress will be made on the dissertation, only minimal use of University facilities will be involved, and/or there will be only slight faculty contact with the student.
Six semester hours. The student will be devoting approximately one-half of a full-time academic load to the dissertation. Moderate progress on the dissertation is expected of the candidate, only limited use of University facilities will be involved, and/or faculty contact with the student will be limited.
Nine semester hours. The student will be devoting approximately three-fourths of a full-time load to the dissertation. Substantial progress on the dissertation is expected of the student, there will be major use of University facilities, and/or considerable faculty contact with the candidate is anticipated.
Twelve semester hours. The student will be devoting a full-time academic load to the dissertation. Extensive progress on the dissertation is expected, there will be considerable use of University facilities, and/or faculty contact with the student will be extensive.
A student must be admitted to the Graduate School and must register as a graduate student in order to receive graduate credit. Approval for graduate registration must be obtained from program advisers prior to registration. No graduate credit may be earned by correspondence study or for experiential learning not conducted under the direct supervision of The University of Alabama.
A graduate student who desires to withdraw from a course may do so, with the approval of the student's adviser or department head, during the period allowed for dropping a class. It is the student's responsibility to consult the graduate school's deadline sheet for the specific date by which one may drop a course.
No notation of courses attempted will be made on the permanent record of a student who withdraws from the University during the first week of a regular semester or the first week of a summer session. After the first week of classes, the fact of withdrawal from a course will be noted on the student's permanent record. It is the student's responsibility to consult the semester's schedule of classes for the specific date by which one may withdraw without receiving a grade notation. From the end of that period until the end of the tenth week of a regular semester or the equivalent in a five-week summer session or three-week Interim session, a student may withdraw from a course, and a grade of "W" will be assigned. Normally, graduate students are not permitted to drop a course after the tenth week. In extraordinary circumstances a student may petition the graduate dean to drop a course after the tenth week of class.
A student may withdraw from the University at any time during a term of registration, following clearance by the Office of Academic Records and University Registrar. A student seeking to withdraw for medical reasons should institute action through the University Health Service. A medical withdrawal cannot be granted if the student has taken any finals or their equivalent, i.e., final papers, projects, or similar assignments for the semester for which a withdrawal is being requested. The procedures for a medical withdrawal are available from the University Health Service.
Students called for active military duty will receive an extension to time limits equal to the term of active duty, plus reasonable time to reacclimate to academia. A copy of pertinent military orders must be provided to the Graduate School in order to receive extension.
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