Long-session semesters: All students that are supported by a research or teaching fellowship must enroll for a minimum of nine hours to maintain their student employee status. This is also the minimum that is required for all international students. Generally, research assistantships and teaching assistantships will pay for a maximum of nine hours, so virtually all full-time MS&E students take nine hours during long session semesters so that they do not incur additional costs. Students who work full-time off-campus may take three or six hours per semester. These students are considered part-time. Once in PhD candidacy three hours of dissertation are considered full time, but nine hours are still required to maintain student employee status (including teaching or research assistantships).
Summer session: The Graduate School requires registration during the summer if you are making use of any UT facilities except the library. Fellowship holders, AIs, TAs, or GRAs, must be registered for three hours in any summer session.
Grade Point Average: You must maintain at least a B (3.0) average in both your major and supporting courses in order to remain in good standing in the Graduate School. However, in order to qualify for PhD candidacy, you must have a GPA of 3.30 in Core courses.