Degree Information

SACSCOC Accreditation

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) accreditation is institutional in nature. Although many programs are accredited by other agencies, SACSCOC accredits the university as a whole, not specific degrees or programs.

Degree Audit

On the admission application, a student must select from available choices: major, minor, cognate, no minor option, area of concentration, degree type (M.A., M.Ed., M.S., Ph.D., etc.), and, for the master's degree, thesis, or non-thesis track. After being admitted to a program, the student may access a degree audit from Texas State Self-Service (CatsWeb) using Degree Works software. The degree audit will guide the student in selecting courses for registration each term. The student should meet with their graduate advisor during the first term of admission to discuss options and review the degree program. Requests for changes to a student’s degree audit must be submitted by the student’s advisor to the dean of The Graduate College for approval.

Because graduate degree programs are individualized according to degree type and student goals, a student’s particular degree program may exceed the number of hours identified for the program in this catalog.

Background/Leveling Course Requirements

Students should refer to the appropriate departmental pages in this catalog for specific information about background/leveling requirements or contact the graduate advisor for their program of study.

Course work identified on a student’s official degree audit as background/leveling is not awarded graduate degree credit and is not used in the computation of the graduate GPA. See the “General Graduation Requirements” section.

Graduate advisors may stipulate that one undergraduate course be taken as a background requirement. All other background course deficiencies must be satisfied by the student enrolling in graduate-level leveling courses.

Degree Time Limit

A program leading to a master’s or specialist degree must be completed within six years from the date of a student’s initial enrollment in the program for which they were admitted. An exception to the standard six-year time limit is the nursing program. No credit will be applied toward the master’s degree for work completed more than six years before the date on which a student’s degree is to be conferred unless an exception has been approved by the graduate advisor and dean of The Graduate College. This time limit applies to credit earned at Texas State as well as credit transferred to Texas State from other accredited institutions. Requests for time extensions must be submitted to a student’s graduate advisor, who in turn submits a petition through the degree audit system to the dean of The Graduate College for final approval.

A program leading to a doctoral, Ph.D. or Ed.D. degree must be completed within ten years from the date of a student’s initial enrollment in the program for which they were admitted. No credit will be applied toward the doctoral degree for course work completed more than ten years before the date on which a student’s degree is to be conferred unless an exception has been approved by the program director and dean of The Graduate College. This time limit applies to credit earned at Texas State as well as credit transferred to Texas State from other accredited institutions. Requests for time extensions must be submitted to a student’s doctoral program director, who in turn submits a petition to the dean of The Graduate College for final approval. Doctoral students should refer to the appropriate departmental section of this catalog for specific time limit requirements regarding advancement to candidacy and dissertation completion.

99 Hour Rule

In accordance with Texas Education Code, Section 54.066, the university will incur a penalty once a doctoral student accumulates 100 or more doctoral semester credit hours. In response, the Texas State University System has a tuition structure (excessive hours fee) in which a doctoral student will be charged tuition at a rate equivalent to non-resident tuition for all doctoral semester credit hours exceeding 99. Courses taken by a doctoral student at the master’s or undergraduate level will not count towards the 99 hours. If the student is admitted to a doctoral program from the bachelor’s degree, the count begins after 30 hours of graduate course work. This tuition structure applies to Texas residents as well as out-of-state residents and international students who were eligible to be charged tuition at the resident rate as a result of scholarship and fellowship awards or employment as graduate assistants. Students should contact their doctoral program directors regarding an available appeal process.

Catalog

Students completing graduate programs within the degree time limits may graduate under the catalog in effect when they begin the graduate program. In certain programs, additional hours may be added to the degree for accreditation or additional research purposes.  Should a program change occur and the student wish to graduate under the new program requirements, the student must submit a request to their graduate advisor, who in turn submits a petition in the degree audit system for final approval from the Graduate Dean. A student who has questions should contact either The Graduate College or their graduate advisor.