Policy Statement
This policy defines what is considered a normal course load for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at Augusta University.
This policy defines a normal course load and describes conditions of enrollment in hours that exceed the maximum allowed for undergraduate students.
Affected stakeholders
All entities and persons within the Enterprise that are affected by this policy:
Graduate Students, Health Professional Students, Undergraduate Students
Policy Owner
Office of Academic and Faculty Affairs
Definitions
Regents’ grade point average is computed using the total number of GPA hours attempted at Augusta University and the total number of grade points earned at Augusta University, excluding courses numbered 0001-0999.
Process & procedures
A normal undergraduate course load in a semester is 15-18 hours. Undergraduate students who wish to register for more than 18 semester credit hours must receive approval from either 1) the chair of their academic department, or 2) the Director of Academic Advisement if they are assigned to the Academic Advisement Center. A student may be approved to register for more than 18 hours only if: 1) he or she has a Regents’ GPA of 3.0 with at least 15 credit hours taken at Augusta University, or 2) he or she is within 30 hours of graduation, or 3) the student is granted permission by his/her dean.
A graduate student who registers for 9 or more hours is considered a full time student.
The Medical College of Georgia does not admit students on a part-time basis. Students in the Medical College may, with appropriate approval from that college, carry lesser academic loads than other students because of academic or scheduling problems. However, these students are considered to be committed to full-time pursuit of the Doctor of Medicine degree.
All Doctor of Dental Medicine degree-seeking students are considered to be fulltime and are expected to devote full-time efforts toward completing requirements for the degree. Most students complete the program in four academic years and take a uniform semester course schedule. Other students may, with special permission, complete the degree program in more than four years and take a variable semester course load designed to meet their academic or scheduling circumstances. Exceptions to this rule are part-time College of Dental Medicine faculty with international, non-CODA accredited dental degrees who may register as part-time students in order to complete the DMD degree for licensure purposes, and a. limited number of special students (eg foreign exchange students), who are not degree-seeking.
References & supporting documents
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Related policies
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Approved by
President, Augusta University and CEO, AU Health System Date: June 9, 2017
Last Revision: May 12, 2016 Last Review: June 9, 2017