[jrutledge@umbc.edu]

UMBC has a report in PeopleSoft that anyone with data access (deans, department chairs, graduate program directors) can access to track retention, graduation rates and time to degree. They can sort based on several demographic and program categories. The PhD data is made public but is not updated every year.

Some challenges are definitions of starting date (First enrolled in any graduate program? First enrolled in this specific program? If switch from master’s to PhD does the time clock also reset? If switch to another similar program does the clock reset? If switch to a very different program does it reset? How do you draw the distinction between similar and different? Same department or college?). Or how you treat leaves of absence (stop clock or not?). It’s not always clear what other universities are using so comparing data can be challenging.

[jrutledge@umbc.edu]

UMBC has something called “university credits” that count toward full-time enrollment but don’t have tuition and don’t count toward degree completion. These credits also don’t count toward financial aid eligibility since they do not count toward the degree. We use these for students who have GA appointments so they are getting “credit” for the time commitment of their GA toward full-time status. See https://gradschool.umbc.edu/funding/assistantships/registration/

All PhD students who have reached candidacy register for 9 credits of PhD dissertation research. This makes them full-time. However they are only charged the equivalent of 2 credits of tuition and fees. PhD students who are pre-candidacy register for a variable credit course that is billed at 1/3 (3 credits are billed at the equivalent of 1 credit) so that a student registered full-time for 9 credits is only billed at the rate of 3 credits. Similarly master’s thesis credits are billed at 1/2 (2 credits are billed at the rate of 1 credit). There is a long and complicated path that got us to this point and periodically someone suggests that we revisit it. But those are some ways to have students in candidacy get counted as full-time. Happy to discuss the details with you if that would be helpful.

[jrutledge@umbc.edu]

Admissions for all graduate programs at UMBC are managed by the Graduate School. But there are many universities that have their undergraduate and graduate admissions in the same office. There are advantages to both arrangements so it may come down to the best arrangement for your university.

[jrutledge@umbc.edu]

Are you able to have students submit a supplemental information form that answers these (and other) questions that are not on the Common App?

[jrutledge@umbc.edu]

We can only award a master’s degree if the student has satisfied the published requirements for the degree. Some of our PhD programs require the student to essentially complete the requirements for the master’s degree along the way but other programs do not. If a student does earn a master’s degree along the way to the PhD they can also count those credits toward the PhD.

[jrutledge@umbc.edu]

Minimum graduate course enrollment is set at the department/college level at UMBC since there are often factors that are local to the department/program that factor into the decision. The same is true for section sizes. These often vary based on whether the course is lecture or seminar format.

[jrutledge@umbc.edu]

UMBC doesn’t have a union for GAs. If a GA is doing field work away from campus (in another state or another country) they would be treated the same as someone doing work on campus. They would still be enrolled and submit the required completion of duties (used in place of timesheet since they do not have employee status) form. They are treated as though they are on travel and receive direct deposit into their US bank account.

Can you clarify what you mean by “abroad as workers rather than students” here? I assume they are in regular contact with their faculty research mentor while away. Couldn’t they track their time in a manner that is similar to the way it is done when they are “working” as a research assistant on campus?

[jrutledge@umbc.edu]

UMBC allows thesis credits to be used toward a non-thesis master’s in place of either master’s project or independent study credits.

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