Academic Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual

N-5: ENROLLMENT STATUS

The following statements define the Penn State enrollment reporting status for students. These statements are in accordance with other Penn State policies and with applicable federal requirements.

A. Definitions

These data fields are automatically calculated during the registration processes as students register, drop, add, late drop, or withdraw.

Enrolled credits – The total of the number of course credits on the student’s semester enrollment. It includes all credit-bearing courses offered through all delivery methods. Courses taken as “audit” are excluded. Credits earned through credit-by-exam or credit-by-portfolio are excluded.

Clock-Hour to Credit-Hour Conversions – For students enrolled in clock hour courses, clock hours are converted to credit hours using Title IV federal student aid conversion formulas. The statements below are then applied to determine enrollment status.

B. Undergraduate Students

1. All calculations apply to fall, spring, and summer.
2. Full-time – 12 or more enrolled credits
3. Three-quarter time – 9 to 11.5 enrolled credits
4. Half-time – 6 to 8.5 enrolled credits
5. Less-than-half-time – less than 6 enrolled credits
6. Selected undergraduate courses are defined as full-time enrollment due to co-operative education or internship experiences. Students enrolled in one of these courses are reported as full-time enrollment. (see Section F below)
7. Students approved for concurrent enrollment in the undergraduate/graduate integrated program are reported as undergraduate students.

C. Graduate Students

1. All calculations apply to fall, spring, and summer.
• Summer enrollment is cumulative across all summer sessions.
2. Graduate students with no assistantship, half-time assistantship, and quarter-time assistantship are reported as follows:
• Full-time – 9 or more enrolled credits
• Three-quarter time – 7 to 8.5 enrolled credits
• Half-time – 5 to 6.5 enrolled credits
• Less-than-half time – less than 5 enrolled credits
3. Graduate students with three-quarter-time assistantship are reported as follows:
• Full-time – 6 or more enrolled credits
• Half-time – 2 to 5.5 enrolled credits
• Less-than-half time – less than 2 enrolled credits
4. A graduate student enrolled in a Ph.D. dissertation 601 course is reported as full-time.
5. A graduate student enrolled in a Ph.D. dissertation 611 course is reported as half-time.

For more information regarding Graduate Assistantship enrollment information please visit the policy on Graduate Assistants, GSAD-901 at https://gradschool.psu.edu/graduate-education-policies/gsad/gsad-900/gsad-901-graduate-assistants/

D. Law Students

1. All calculations apply to fall, spring, and summer
2. Full-time – 12 or more enrolled credits
3. Three-quarter time – 9 to 11.5 enrolled credits
4. Half-time – 6 to 8.5 enrolled credits
5. Less-than-half-time – less than 6 enrolled credits
6. A student enrolled as both a law student and graduate student is reported as a law student.

E. Medical Students

1. Always reported as full-time.
2. A student enrolled as both a medical student and a graduate student is reported as a medical student.

F. Undergraduate Internship and Co-operative Enrollments

1. Federal regulations permit the reporting of full-time status for undergraduate students providing that the work portion of a co-operative education program in which the amount of work performed is equivalent to the academic workload of a full-time student.
2. The Office of the University Registrar maintains a record of approved courses that are to be reported as full-time, even though the number of credits is less than the 12-credit minimum.
3. Academic units must complete the Full-time Equivalent Form for those internship and co-operative courses that will result in reporting students as enrolled full-time.