A.  Course Loads

Full time students are expected to take a minimum of  nine credits per semester (fall, spring). Part time students are expected to take 4-8 credits per semester. At Guilford, students must take at least nine  credits to be considered full-time, and students must take at least 6 credits to be considered half-time. To receive financial aid, a student must be enrolled in at least 6 credits.

B.  Grading and Program Retention

Students enrolled in the master degree programs at Guilford College must not earn any course grades lower than C.

To graduate from a masters degree program at Guilford College, a student must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade-point average.

C.  Time to Completion

All students must complete their masters degree program within six years of the date of initial enrollment. Within that period, students may choose to not take courses for a maximum of three semesters.  Only compelling circumstances will give way to an exception, which must be approved by the program.

D.  Withdrawal from Courses or the College

The withdrawal from a course will be done in accordance with the policy established in the Guilford College Catalog.  A student wishing to withdraw from the graduate program must do so through the Office of Graduate Admissions.

E.  Nondiscrimination Policy    

In its active commitment to building diverse community, Guilford College rejects discrimination on the bias of race, creed, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability in admission, employment or access to programs and activities. The College also seeks to avoid discrimination in the administration of educational programs, admission policies, financial aid or any other College program or activity.

F.  Undergraduate Students 

Undergraduates enrolled at Guilford may, with program director and instructor permission,  register for up to two graduate courses. Only one graduate course may be taken in any given semester. If an undergraduate student takes a graduate course when enrolled full time, they will not be charged any extra tuition for the graduate course. (Undergraduate students enrolled in MBA 500 may be charged a fee for materials.) If an undergraduate student takes a graduate course but is not enrolled full time, they will be charged graduate tuition for the course. 

If a student who takes MCJ graduate courses as an undergraduate enrolls in the CJ graduate program, the graduate courses taken will not count toward their undergraduate degree but will count toward their M.S. degree, unless they are admitted into the Accelerated B.S. to M.S. program (see section II.A.4. above).

Guilford undergraduates who continue into a graduate program, and who have applied graduate course credits to satisfy their undergraduate degree requirements, must have a minimum of 150 total credits between both degrees. Additional undergraduate or graduate-level courses may be needed to reach this minimum

G.  Continuous Enrollment for Graduate Candidacy Standing

Graduate students are required to maintain continuous enrollment from the time of first enrollment in a graduate program until they receive their degree. Criminal Justice graduate students who have completed all their course requirements will be required to maintain continuous thesis credits. Graduate students that cannot complete JPS 651 Thesis in one semester must re-enroll in JPS 651 Thesis for one credit every subsequent semester until they have successfully defended their thesis. However, graduate students are not required to be enrolled in the summer.