Enrollment Information and Academic Records

ASU and the School of Life Sciences do not require graduate students to be enrolled full-time. However, you are expected to adequately progress and meet your program milestones. In addition, if you are hired as an AA, you must enroll in the minimum credit hours required to receive your funding, which is detailed in your funding offer letter. If you would like to be enrolled full-time, please consider the requirements below.

Full-time enrollment requirements:

• Graduate students:

  • • Fall and spring semesters: 9 or more credit hours 

    • Summer semesters: 3 or more credit hours

The requirements above are true for international students as well. If you are an international student, please feel free to read more about enrollment requirements for maintaining your immigration status here.

Financial considerations

Before enrollment each semester, please consider the impact your enrollment may have on your anticipated aid or other funding. Many awards have a specific enrollment requirement. Therefore, even if ASU and SOLS do not require you to enroll full-time, the aid you expect may not post unless you meet this requirement. Any award you receive should detail this in the offer or terms you should have been sent or you can contact Financial Aid and Scholarship Services at fass@asu.edu.

Enrollment verification and loan repayment

If you enroll below half-time (minimum 5 credits in fall and spring semesters) at any point in your degree and have currently or previously taken out student loans, your loans may enter their repayment period. Effective Summer 2023 and beyond, due to federal regulations, ASU is no longer able to use full-time verification forms to provide students with a full-time status when they are enrolled below full- or half-time. If you have loans you do not want to enter into repayment, we recommend keeping this in mind when applying for any other funding that may allow enrollment in 1-5 credits during fall and spring terms. Depending on your loan provider, you may need to check your summer enrollment also, though most loans have a 6 month grace period that would cover the summer terms and reset once enrolled in the following fall. You can review ASU’s enrollment verification requirements here: Full-Time and Half-Time Status for Enrollment Verification Purposes. 

In order to stay active in your graduate program, you must maintain continuous enrollment. ASU's continuous enrollment policy requires the following:

• Students must enroll in at least 1 graduate-level credit hour during their admit term and their graduation term (even if this occurs in the summer, which is otherwise exempt from requiring enrollment)

• Students must enroll in at least 1 graduate-level credit hour every fall and spring semester 

• Students must enroll in at least 1 graduate-level credit hour during terms in which they are doing their final thesis defense (even if this occurs in the summer, which is otherwise exempt from requiring enrollment)

Failure to meet this requirement will result in the student being discontinued from their graduate program.

You may request a leave of absence if you need to take a semester or two off and still want to stay active in your program.

Be sure to discuss this with your academic advisor before you make the request. You may take up to two semesters of leave. This can be served sequentially or at two different times in your degree. Summer terms do not require a leave of absence request.

Steps to request the leave of absence: 

1. Access your iPOS

2. click the petitions tab

3. and select the leave of absence option from the dropdown. 

4. Then, please provide a brief description of the need for leave and submit for review. 

The SOLS graduate office will review your request and let you know if anything additional is needed. Once approved, the leave of absence will prevent you from using university resources for that particular term, but it will allow you to remain active in your program and resume seamlessly upon your semester of return.

To remain eligible for federal financial aid, you must make satisfactory academic progress (SAP) as a student. SAP means you make good enough grades, and successfully complete enough classes in a timely manner to demonstrate that you are successfully working toward your degree. SAP should be taken into account if you are considering any changes to your enrollment.

Students on academic disqualification are not eligible for financial aid. 

ASU measures Satisfactory Academic Progress yearly after the spring semester using the three metrics below: