HDFS Timeline to Degree Completion

The timeline for degree completion varies considerably from student to student. Part-time students generally take longer than full-time students. There are many legitimate reasons that students take longer to complete their degree. Our job, however, is to make sure that delays in progress are not based on problems that we could help with (e.g., planning support, overcoming resistance, working through being “stuck”, or other personal, professional, or academic issues). The key is to keep in close contact with your advisor. Schedule regular meetings—your advisor may seem busy, but it is their job to make time for you! Another key is to read this Handbook cover to cover and the Graduate School’s website link to link. Know the requirements and plan accordingly.

Develop a long-range schedule for yourself.

Full-Time Status

Full-time study is defined by the School of Human Ecology as being enrolled for a minimum of 8 credits per semester until, in the case of Ph.D. students, the preliminary examination is passed. Post- preliminary examination students (dissertators) must enroll for 3 credits for full-time status.

For part-time students, years/semesters toward degree can be calculated on the basis of credit hours rather than semesters or years in the program.

Monitoring of Student Progress

The department keeps an updated list of student progress towards the degree, including the passing of “benchmarks” such as proposal/defense meetings, dissertator status, and so on. Deficiencies such as incompletes are also noted. This list is monitored by both the SoHE Graduate Program Coordinator and the Graduate Program Chair. An annual review is conducted (often in conjunction with the annual student merit review process, see below) to inform advisors of any problems. The advisor is asked to communicate any issues that arise during the process of this monitoring to their advisee and take steps to help the student remedy any problems. If you do not hear from your advisor in January or February, this is an appropriate time to check-in with them and make sure you are making satisfactory progress. At this time, you may want to look ahead and determine when your deadline will be for finishing a benchmark in order to maintain your satisfactory progress status.

Satisfactory Progress and Satisfactory Progress Towards Degree Completion Benchmarks

The Graduate School specifies minimum criteria for “satisfactory progress.” The requirements include maintaining a 3.0 GPA and considering incomplete grades to be unsatisfactory if they are not removed during the next Fall or Spring semester in which a student is enrolled. A student may be placed on probation or suspended from the Graduate School for low grades or for failing to resolve incompletes.

In rare instances, an advisor may feel that an advisee is not prepared to be successful in the HDFS graduate program. Under such circumstances, the advisor will take the lead in working with the GPC Chair to solicit feedback from relevant faculty (e.g., faculty with whom the advisee has worked as a student, TA, PA, or RA). The GPC Chair and advisor will confer with the Graduate School and meet with the advisee to discuss their concerns and decide on a plan for the student to complete or exit the program. If the advisor is the GPC Chair, another member of the GPC will serve in the Chair’s role for this process.

To encourage timely completion of degrees and to help establish guidelines for awarding merit based financial awards, the faculty has adopted an official policy on the definition of satisfactory progress toward degree completion, HDFS incorporates the Graduate School’s minimum requirements for satisfactory progress but also establishes target and maximum benchmarks for satisfactory progress toward degree completion which are defined in Tables 1 and 2.