FAQ - Taking graduate courses and maintaining “good standing”
While these resources can be helpful, as a graduate student It is your responsibility to proactively seek program advising prior to enrolling in any courses and regularly during your progress through your program(s). If you proceed and register without advising, you may end up taking courses that do not count towards the degree you hope for, or you may not complete your program(s) at the time you hope to. You can determine the appropriate advisor to contact here.
To understand the frequency of course offerings and for an overview of which courses count for which program, consult the 3-semester course plan (includes course checklists by program). Please note that projected course offerings are subject to change due to staffing, enrollment and administrative constraints.
Where can I find out specifically what courses the department is planning to offer in the upcoming semester?
The Department of Public Administrations posts planned course schedule summaries on its website. To understand the frequency of course offerings and for an overview of which courses count for which program, consult the 3-semester course plan (includes course checklists by program). The detailed summary for the upcoming semester including CRNs and planned instructors is usually posted by midway through the semester before, often in advance of when you can actually see those courses in the official course schedule in myTSU.
Where do I access the online official course schedule? Where do I register when I am ready to sign up for courses, or add/drop courses, or withdraw from a course?
The official TSU course schedule can be quickly accessed without signing in here. To access the TSU course schedule for registration purposes, you must log into myTSU.
Always be aware of the current academic calendar.
The following is a summary only; official policy is found in the TSU Graduate Catalog (“Catalog”) which is controlling.
Good standing is defined in the Catalog, and includes maintaining a cumulative graduate GPA of 3.0 or above in all graduate coursework at TSU. Program benchmarks like completion of the program of study; sitting for comprehensive MPA exam; and degree graduation and/or certificate completion all require that the student be in good standing. Falling below a cumulative GPA of 3.0 triggers graduate probation status which can lead to graduate suspension and other consequences.
All students must familiarize themselves with the rules and procedures related to good standing, retention, and graduate study in general, which are found in the front matter of the TSU Graduate Catalog (they are more detailed than the brief summaries in this FAQ); additional requirements at the program level are found in the College of Public Service section of the Graduate Catalog.
The following is a summary only; official policy is found in the TSU Graduate Catalog (“Catalog”) which is controlling.
For certificate and MPA degree programs, only course grades of C or better can count towards degree or program completion. In other words, if a D or F is obtained in a course, even if your overall cumulative graduate GPA is 3.0 or above, that course cannot be used to meet the curricular requirements of the degree or program in question unless it is retaken and the new grade is a C or above. (More stringent requirements apply for the PhD program; see the Catalog.)
The following is a summary for convenience only; official policy is found in the TSU Graduate Catalog (“Catalog”) which is controlling.
You may retake a given course ONE time in hopes of improving a grade; whatever grade you get the second time replaces the first. You may only retake a total of TWO courses needed to meet curricular requirements for a graduate degree or program. Therefore, be very careful about course performance; if you realize you are unable to meet course expectations at the necessary level of performance in a particular semester, withdraw before the semester’s deadline in the Academic Calendar. “Taking an F” due to failure to withdraw from the course in a timely fashion can have serious consequences.
The following is a summary for convenience only; official policy is found in the TSU Graduate Catalog (“Catalog”) which is controlling.
If you receive an “Incomplete” in a course, you should immediately contact the instructor and make arrangements for resolution. “Incomplete” grades becomes Fs at the end of the next semester, if you do not complete requirements established by the instructor for resolving the incomplete work before that point. “Incompletes” cannot count towards curricular requirements until resolved to a final grade.
creation date: 2015.10.15
edit date: 2018.02.23