THE GPSC NON-DEGREE GRADUATE STUDENT PAGE

In a nutshell, the GPSC is the governing body for the graduate student population here at the University of Arizona

The Graduate and Professional Student Council had its genesis in 1991, when three graduate students founded the Graduate Student Association. Originally, the GPSC was part of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA), but has since become a fully independent governing body with its own elected officers and representatives. The GPSC is perhaps best known for creating and hosting the Student Showcase and for coordinating the annual Graduate Orientation in cooperation with the Graduate College. The GPSC is also involved with obtaining tuition remission and health insurance for TAs and RAs, providing travel grants for graduate students and representing your concerns and interests at the national level through the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students .

You can learn a lot more about the GPSC by visiting our main web site or you can read about history of the organization, either briefly or in more detail. Click here to see some of the issues that GPSC is working on this year.

Admission to the University of Arizona as a Non-Degree Graduate Student is governed by the graduate catalog which states:

Individuals holding a bachelor's degree, or its equivalent, from a college or university which grants degrees recognized by The University of Arizona, may enroll in graduate-level courses without being admitted to a specific graduate degree program. Such students may enroll in graduate-level course work as their qualifications and performance permit. It is advisable to contact the department(s) offering courses of interest, to insure that the courses are available to non-degree students. Up to 12 units of graduate credit earned in Non-Degree status and/or transferred from other institutions, may be allowed for use toward an advanced degree once the student obtains regular admission to a degree program. International applicants requiring a student visa are not eligible for graduate Non-Degree admission.

Applicants who do not meet the minimum required cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.00 for admission to a graduate degree program, may enroll in Graduate Non-Degree status. After completing 12 consecutive semester units of graded (A, B, C) 500-level or higher course work with a minimum grade-point average of 3.25, they may apply for admission consideration to a graduate degree program.

The Graduate College requires that applications for Non-Degree status, along with the required application fee, be submitted no later than the day before classes begin. However, to avoid late registration penalties assessed by the Bursar's Office, students must submit their application, application fee, and registration payment by the first day of class. Refer to the Bursar's Office web site for current information. Application forms and information on current fees can be downloaded from the web, or obtained from the Graduate Admissions Office. Students in Non-Degree status are not eligible for federal financial aid or for any financial assistance offered by The University of Arizona.

(You can also read the latest version of this definition in context directly from the graduate catalog).

There are several important points to note in the above definition if you enrolled as non-degree because you did not have the minimum 3.00 GPA. Before you can apply for admission to a graduate degree program:

• You must complete 12 units of coursework;
• The 12 units must be graded units (i.e. not independent study, correspondence, etc.)
• The 12 units must be 500-level or higher
• The 12 units must be consecutive units (i.e. no gaps)
• Your GPA for the 12 units must be 3.25 (not 3.0)

You should also note the somewhat awkward wording of the last paragraph:

"The Graduate College requires that applications... be submitted no later than the day before classes begin. However, to avoid late registration penalties assessed by the Bursar's Office, students must submit their application... and registration payment by the first day of class."

This verbiage is a carry-over from a previous version of the catalog which said, "to avoid late registration penalties assessed by the Bursar's Office, students must submit their application.... and registration payment by the payment deadline, which is approximately one month earlier than the first day of class."

The moral of this story is that the Bursar's office can and does periodically change its deadlines for fee payment. Do not assume that the Graduate College application deadline is the same as the Bursar's Office registration payment deadline. Although the deadline is the same at the time this web page was written, in general the deadlines may not be the same.

As of the Fall 2005 semester, 809 graduate students at the U of A were enrolled as Non-Degree-Seeking (NDS). This is down from the 1115 NDS graduate students enrolled in the Fall 2000 semester, and the 1057 enrolled in Fall 2002.

NDS Students Include:

• People Establishing Credentials For Admission to a Degree Program
  This is the situation in which most NDS students find themselves, and it is ironic that most of these "Non-Degree Seeking" students are "seeking" to get their "degrees" much more fervently than many students who are admitted to a graduate program. Some suggestions are offered below to help NDS students get admitted to a degree program.

• People Who Are Interested in Taking University Courses
  These students range from homemakers and retired folks to professionals who are seeking to update their skills with training in the latest techniques and discoveries in their respective fields.

• Students Enrolled in Distance-Learning, Post-baccalaureate and Certification Programs
  This group includes students enrolled in teaching certification programs and other post-baccalaureate programs.

• Visiting Scholars etc. Who Take University Courses
  These students include post-doctoral students, clinical faculty and others doing internships, as well as a wide variety of other post-PhD types'

• Students "Converted" From a Degree Program by the Graduate College
  If a student is admitted to a graduate degree program and his or her grades fall below a certain level (usually 3.0) his or her department can eventually reclassify the student as "Non-Degree Seeking".

You can complete as many courses as you want while you are an NDS student, but those courses may or may not apply toward your graduate degree requirements once you're admitted -- usually only 12-15 credits can be transferred to a degree program. Some departments (such as the Law School) won't let you take their classes at all unless you've been admitted to their specific department. Additionally, some other departments will only let you take their courses if you have met certain other requirements (such as attaining "Advanced Standing" for example.) In general, you should check with the department which offers the classes in which you are interested.

Academic advising for NDS Students is available at the Graduate College in Administration Building, Room 302, (520) 621-7814.

Being an NDS student can be a little lonely, to say the least. Unlike other grad students, you don't really have a support network to help you through discouraging or difficult times in your graduate career. You might even be treated as an "outsider" by the other students in your classes, especially if you're trying to get admitted to a small, close-knit department.

As a first step toward addressing these issues, you should attend the various socials and other events which are hosted by GPSC. This will give you a chance to meet other NDS students, as well as people from other departments who are as cool and interesting as you are!

Also, keep an eye on this site for a soon-to-be-released on-line NDS forum, that will let you share your thoughts and concerns while chatting with other NDS students.

The short answer is "not really". The long answer is that you can get certain types of loans, if the department to which you are seeking admission will sign off on a form that says you will soon be admitted. You can get a copy of the form, which is called "Graduate Non-Degree Seeking Financial Aid Appeal" from the financial aid office or by clicking here.

Keep in mind that this is an application for a loan not a grant. That means that eventually, you will have to pay this money back with interest.

If you meet these criteria, the next open enrollment for the Student Health Insurance Program will occur in the spring semester and will close 14-days after the first day of school in Spring 2006.

If you have any questions about the program, you can take a look at the Campus Health Services web site at www.health.arizona.edu or call the Insurance Office at 621-5858.

Even if you don't meet the qualifications for Student Health Insurance Program, any non-degree student can participate in the University's Campus Care Program (as long as you are registered for at least 1 credit hour). Basically this program allows you to pay $60 per semester with either a $10 or $30 co-pay per visit, to cover most expenses for services provided at the Campus Health Center (laboratory tests, x-rays, medical procedures and supplies). Note that the Campus Care Program will only cover these costs if the diagnostic work in question is initiated at the Campus Health Service. The open enrollment period for the Campus Care Program begins upon class registration and ends the 14th day after the official start of classes.

Also, even if you are not enrolled in either the Arizona Board of Regents Student Health Insurance Program or the Campus Care Program, you can still go into the Campus Health center for treatment. Charges will be billed on a fee-for-service basis. The fees are generally less expensive then those charged at off campus medical facilities -- you can see a comparison here.

There are also a variety of other off-campus alternatives for health insurance and health. These include:

• Private Insurance
  Many insurance companies offer individual, family or dependent-only plans. Check the yellow pages for contact information for companies such as Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, Pacificare or United Healthcare. Individual plans (not purchased through a group or employer) tend to be more expensive than group plans.

• Short Term Health Insurance
  Benefits are usually limited; check policy restrictions to be sure to have adequate coverage.

• Fortis/Assurant Insurance
  1-888-688-4668 or www.temporaryinsurance.com offers up to 6 months of coverage for individuals/families with various deductible options.

• ISIS travel insurance
  1-800-247-5575 or www.isis-travelinsurance.com offers short term insurance for international students and their families or for U.S. citizens planning international travel.

• State of Arizona sponsored plan
  Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS): For Arizona resident individuals or families who earn less than poverty level. AHCCCS functions as an HMO. You will have a primary care physician who will direct your care and write referrals for you. To enroll in AHCCCS, download the application from the AHCCCS website at www.ahcccs.state.az.us, or call AHCCCS at 1-800-528-0142. You can also contact the El Rio Health Center, 839 W. Congress, 792-9890, since El Rio serves as an intake location for AHCCCS.
  
  Note that AHCCCS also provides special coverage for pregnant women (the Baby Arizona Program) and children (the Kids Care Program). Your OB provider or pediatrician can give you additional information or you can call AHCCCS or visit the website listed above.

• Pima Community Access Program (PCAP)
  The PCAP office is located at 655 E. River Rd., 694-0418. This is not insurance, but it is a program to assist uninsured adults who do not qualify for AHCCCS. PCAP accepts those with income levels at 250% of federal poverty level. There is a $60 fee for 1 year of eligibility. Members pay 30% of Medicare rates for services at community contracted facilities and $25 for office co-pays with contracted specialists. Campus Health serves as a primary care provider for students with PCAP. Applications are processed in person. Call for appointment with PCAP. Applications can be downloaded from the PCAP website. As part of the intake process, PCAP will screen potential members for eligibility for AHCCCS and process paperwork for AHCCCS. The PCAP website is www.pcap.cc.

• St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic
  This clinic is located at 140 W. Speedway Blvd., 628-7871. Appointments average 1-2 wks in advance. Uninsured patients are charged on a sliding scale fee. Services are provided for adults and children. The website is www.ccs-soaz.org/saint_e.htm .

• El Rio Clinic
  Main office located at 839 W. Congress, 792-9890. Multiple clinic locations in Tucson. Various insurances are accepted. Uninsured patients are charged on a sliding scale fee. Services for adults and children. Bring photo ID, social security card and recent utility bill for first appointment. The website for the El Rio Clinic is www.elrio.org.

• Indian Health Service
  The San Xavier IHS Clinic (295-2550) provides care for American Indian individuals who are not covered by other health insurance. If you are from out of area, contact your home service area for authorization to be seen through San Xavier IHS.

(This section is for NDS students who are seeking admission to a program of graduate study.)

• Take Classes and Get Good Grades
  Once you're enrolled as an NDS student, you should start taking core courses in the Department to which you are seeking admission. Take the same classes as the students who are already admitted and show that you can perform academically just as well as they can. Don't overload yourself though -- only take two classes (or at most three) each semester and plan to spend your summer and Christmas breaks preparing for those classes. Basically, you have to get "A"s in these courses, so that you can show your future Department that you can do the work that is being done by their grad students. You can probably get away with one, or even two "B"s a year, but a "C" is not considered acceptable for grad students.

  If something goes terribly wrong and you do get a "C" all may not be lost. You might be able take the course over again under the Graduate Student Grade Replacement Opportunity (GRO) Policy. The GRO form is available here and the complete GRO policy is set forth on the second page of the form. Basically, if you meet all the conditions and requirements set forth in the policy, you can retake the course and the grade you got the first time will not be calculated into your GPA. Your transcript, however, will show that you took the course before and it will show the lousy grade you got the first time. That lousy grade just won't be included in the calculation of your GPA. In general, you do not want to GRO classes -- it will not look good when you apply for admission to the graduate program of your dreams. (It will probably look better than keeping the bad grade however.)

• Find a Mentor (Faculty or Student)
  Proactively seeking out mentorship in your chosen field is a valuable, but often overlooked technique to assure success in any endeavor. If you're trying to get admitted to a graduate program, a mentor can be especially valuable, both to tell you the "unwritten rules" for academic and social acceptance in the department, and to lend support to your admissions application. Ideally, you should try to find a mentor who is a faculty member in your future department. As a non-degree student seeking admission, there are two basic approaches you should consider when selecting a faculty mentor. One approach is to choose a prominent professor, maybe even someone who is serving on the admissions committee, and strive to impress this individual while humbly and graciously accepting his or her guidance and wisdom. You may even offer to assist with this professor's research, on a volunteer basis, or as a paid student employee. An alternative strategy when choosing a faculty mentor is to choose someone more removed from the path you have chosen -- someone who can help you impartially to choose which professors and projects would best suit your needs. Naturally, there is no rule that says you can only have one mentor -- you may find it best to choose several different faculty members each of whom can help you in different aspects of your career. If you don't have any luck finding a faculty mentor right away, you can also seek the help and advice of one or more of your fellow graduate students. This can be especially helpful in a small department where the grad students have an institutionally archived set of old tests and homework assignments. If faculty members routinely recycle old test and homework questions, you can be at a significant disadvantage, if all the other students, except you, have access to the "pool" of completed works from previous years.

• Find out Who is on the Admissions Committee for your Future Department
  The motivation for finding out who's on your admissions committee should be obvious. This collection of professors are the individuals who will decide whether or not you get admitted to the graduate program of your dreams. The more you know about the committee as a whole, and the individuals who comprise it, the greater your chances of building the credentials that will most effectively demonstrate your ability to achieve success in their department. In a perfect world you would enroll, and do well in, courses that are taught by the members of the admissions committee. When admissions applications are evaluated, you will then be in the position of having one or more of the admissions committee members be familiar with the academic excellence and abilities that you will have demonstrated while taking their courses. (Obviously, you should never perform poorly in a class which is taught by a member of the admissions committee.) Another important reason to acquaint yourself with the membership of the admissions committee is to avoid embroiling yourself in departmental politics and/or academic disputes: it would be tragic if you did good work with a faculty mentor for a year, only to discover that, in the eyes of the admissions committee, you have (unknowingly) allied yourself with the someone who the majority of the admissions committee members perceive as being part of the "enemy faction" in some type of on-going interdepartmental squabble or academic dispute. Similarly, if most of the profs on the admissions committee subscribe to the hotly-contested XYZ theory of whatever, you don't want to be known as someone who is only working with those "crackpot" ABC theorists. Its usually not that hard to find out who is on the admissions committee for your chosen department. Many departments publish that information on their websites (along with profiles of faculty members and their particular research biases -- oops, I mean research foci.) Often you can just call up the main department secretary and ask; most of the time, no one will even want to know why you are asking, but if they do, just tell the truth: you want to find out what kinds of things the admissions committee is looking for so that you can decide if you want to apply there or at another University instead.

• Establish a Support Network
  The life of a non-degree student seeking admission to a graduate program is often difficult. It's normal, in this situation, to feel like a bit of an "outsider" or to feel like you're somehow "inadequate". You might also feel that students and professors see you as "not good enough" or "too dumb" to be in their department. I have personally heard professors say that non-degree grad students are "not real graduate students" and that they have "no business being here". Faced with these types of situations, it is completely normal for non-degree students to feel some measure of anxiety and depression, as well as a reduction in self-esteem and self image. If you find this happening top you, remember that you do not have to passively accept that situation. You can take proactive steps to help yourself. Additional stress and anxiety are the last things you need, when you are trying to perform well and demonstrate your abilities in your future department. One way to do this is to take advantage of the counseling services provided by the University's Counseling and Psychological Services. You can and should make a deliberate effort to build a support network for yourself -- tell your family and friends what you're going through and talk about the challenges you are facing. You can also take advantage of the various social opportunities offered through GPSC to meet other non-degree students who can relate to what you're going through. Set aside a little time every week just to do something that helps you to feel better about yourself. You'll find that all of these strategies can help to reduce the anxiety and stress you may experience as a non-degree student.

• Evaluate Your Strengths and Weaknesses
  If you want to get into a degree program, but you're currently a non-degree student, there's a reasonable chance that someone, somewhere has the opinion that you might not be ready to do the work required to get your graduate degree. That doesn't mean they're right. But it also doesn't mean they're wrong. You need to honestly evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and see what you need to do to prepare for entry into your chosen graduate degree program. Now, anyone who tells you that you're "not cut out for" a particular program or who implies that you're somehow "not good enough" is just plain wrong. There are no inherent flaws that some people are born with that make them unsuitable for a particular graduate program. It is possible, however, that you may need to improve your skills in certain areas. Maybe you need to review your undergraduate coursework, either to refresh your memory, or to clarify a few key concepts that you didn't understand back in your undergrad days. Maybe you need to improve your time-management skills, so that you can get homework done on time and be prepared for tests. Maybe you need to deal with financial, personal or family issues that have been distracting you from your academic career.

  There's nothing wrong with needing to improve yourself, address lifestyle issues, or learn new skills in order to better prepare for graduate school. Nobody is born with all the skills and talents they need to achieve their goals in life -- everyone has to go through a learning process. So there is absolutely no reason to feel bad if you're currently lacking some preparation that you need to get into a graduate program. You just need to figure out what you need to do and get it done. Naturally, it's often hard to be totally objective when identifying your personal strengths and weaknesses. Many people find it helpful to discuss these issues with a close friend, a supportive family member, or an Academic Counselor.

• Work with Faculty Members in your Future Department

  Probably the best way to prepare for getting into your chosen graduate degree program is to work with one or more faculty members in your future department, either as a volunteer or as a paid student employee. This approach give you a chance to find out if you truly like the work you would be doing as a graduate student in that department. It also lets you become better acquainted with the faculty and grad students with whom you hope to be working once you are admitted. More important, though, is that you will be giving the people in your future department a chance to get to know you. Not only will this give you an automatic advantage over other applicants, who are nominally just names on a printed page, it will also afford you the opportunity to show everyone what a great student and friendly person you are.

  The first step in finding a professor to work with is to try to get a general idea of what groups and/or individuals are looking for help. Department secretaries, your classmates and your instructors can all be good sources for this information.

  Next, you need to put together a Curriculum Vitae (or "CV"), which is the academic equivalent of a resume. The University's Career Services Department has an excellent collection of resources to help you with this, including a Curriculum Vitae guide, a sample CV a Resume FAQ and a Resume Guide.

  Once you have your CV together, you can either drop it off in the department mailboxes of a few faculty members, along with a suitable Cover Letter, or you can just stop by the prof's office (during his posted office hours) and ask a few questions about the work you heard she was doing. This in-person, soft-sell approach can often work well, especially if you just play the role of an interested student, and leave a copy of your resume (with cover letter) for the faculty member after the two of you have had a chance to chat about her work in this informal setting. Keep in mind though, that throughout this process, every contact that you have with your faculty prospects should be treated as a mini-interview (even if the professor doesn't realize that's what it is). The Career Services Department also has a collection of useful information to help you improve your interviewing skills, including an Interviewing FAQ. Note that these Career Services materials are aimed more at professional jobs than campus-based work, so be sure to modify their guidelines as appropriate. Talk with one of the career counselors for help in this area.

• Get Good Letters of Recommendation

  Your letters of recommendation constitute one of the most important parts of your admissions application. Strong letters of recommendation can often offset less-than-perfect grades or standardized test scores. By the same token, a good application package can be damaged by a ne your recommender wrote about you. The fact that you never read the letter is intended to insure that the recommender will be completely honest about both your strengths and weaknesses. It is, therefore, critical that you do not ask someone for a letter of recommendation unless you're sure the author will have plenty of positive things to say about you. If you ask the wrong person for a letter of recommendation, he or she is not going to call you rude names in the letter, or say that you're stupid. Instead, the result will be a very bland, neutral letter in which is conspicuously lacking in even the slightest hint of praise or approval.

  The best letters of recommendation you can get are from professors in the department to which you are seeking admission. Toward that end, you should seriously consider working with a faculty member (see above) who will be able to write a good letter for you after a semester or so of stellar performance on your part.

  You could also ask the instructor of one of your courses to write a letter of recommendation, but you have to be sure you've given your instructor something meaningful to say about you. If all you've ever done is go to class, turn in your homework and pass your tests, that's probably exactly what your professor will say in the letter of recommendation. The moral here, is that if you want your professor to write an outstanding letter of recommendation for you, you need to do something to stand out in his class.

  You can also get letters of recommendation from former supervisors or employers. Keep in mind though that the members of your admissions committee are primarily academics and there will be a tendency for them to give more weight to letters from their peers.

• Take Standardized Exams (Graduate Record Exam, etc.)

  As part of the admissions application process, most graduate programs require you to take one or more standardized tests such as the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), Law School Admission Test (LSAT), Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), etc. In particular some departments will require both the GRE General Test and one of the GRE Subject Tests. The assumption here is that your scores on these tests will indicate if you have the academic ability to succeed in your chosen degree program. Although many studies have found that no such correlation exists (see, for example, Examining the GRE: Myths, Misuses, and Alternatives) a low standardized test score can have a devastatingly negative effect on your chances for admission. Although this may not seem fair, as a non-degree grad student seeking admission to a graduate program, there is, unfortunately, nothing you can do to change the situation. Instead, if you have a low standardized test score, you should focus your energies on retaking the test, and achieving a better score. (Admissions committees will see both scores, but will usually pay more attention to your more recent score.)

  In terms of improving your standardized test scores, it is actually a good thing that these tests are not accurate measures of your true abilities: you don't have to become a better scholar to get a better score -- you just have to get better at taking the test. Most people can significantly improve their scores on the GRE and similar tests by taking one of the many test preparation courses that are available, and by practicing over and over again on sample tests. Kaplan Inc. is one of the biggest providers of test preparation courses, but, in my opinion at least, their prices seem rather high (Kaplan's baseline price for their GRE Classroom Course, for example, is $1,099, as of Spring 2006). For comparison, the University Learning Center (ULC) offers a GRE Preparation Course for $425.00. The ULC also has prep courses for the GMAT, LSAT and TOEFL exams. There are also numerous test prep books and sample tests that you can buy (or sometimes get for free from the library, or via Interlibrary Loan).

  The prep courses are not cheap, but many people find them to help significantly more than just reading books. Since the exams themselves are rather expensive (the GRE General Test, for example, costs $115) spending a few hundred dollars for a prep course could be a very wise investment if it saves you from taking the exam more than once. (Note that the Graduate College offers a free GRE Workshop for those who are eligible.)

• Try To Get Admitted In 1-2 Years

  In order to get admitted to a degree program, you need to complete 12 hours of academic coursework. You also need to get pretty good grades in all those courses. In theory, taking 6 credit hours per semester, you could achieve this in one year. If you're working with a professor and/or doing other things to enhance youe credentials, you might be able to stretch this out to three or maybe even four semesters. Its best to finish this preliminary course work in the 2 to 3 semester time frame. Once you hit four or more semesters, people may start wondering what's taking you so long, and they might start to think you can't handle a normal full time course load of six hours per semester.

Academic advising for NDS Students is available at the Graduate College, Administration Building, Room 302, (520) 621-7814. Another useful resource is The University of Arizona Ombuds Committee. Naturally, as your elected representative to GPSC, I'm always ready to lend a hand -- just drop me an e-mail at: jimc@gpscnds.com.

Toward the end of the Spring 2005 semester, the Graduate College implemented a new policy that could, in an extreme situation, affect your ability to enroll in some classes. Here is the text of the new policy:

Non-degree student probation policy change
Authority to block non-degree students on repeated probation from registration.
Currently non-degree students whose GPA falls below 3.0 for more than two semesters cannot be blocked from further enrollment or administratively withdrawn from courses. The new policy allows the Graduate College, on the recommendation of a department, to block such students from registration in the department’s courses. Academically weak students can negatively affect the quality of classroom interaction. Although this is a relatively rare problem, it can be frustrating for faculty and departments to deal with students who persist despite a continued record of low performance.

Having read this new policy, DON'T PANIC just because your GPA is below 3.0, and has been for more than two semesters. Below are several statements by administrators at the Graduate College which provide additional information about the policy.

Maria Teresa Velez, Associate Dean, Graduate College, stated, in part, in a September 23, 2005 posting to the GPSC listserv that:

"The policy was established by the Graduate Council last year in response to complaints by departments and faculty about disruptive graduate students registered as non-degree. These students were not able to get a passing grade but continued to enroll in different classes in the department and manifest the same disruptive behavior. Short of filing extensive paperwork with the Dean of Students, departments had no ability to ban these students from taking courses. Some instructors have been scared that the students were dangerous, a not unreasonable concern given what happened in the College of Nursing three years ago.

The new policy simply gives authority to the Graduate College to prevent such students from continuing to enroll. It will only be used in extreme cases.

The Graduate College welcomes non-degree students. They may be community people interested in learning, individuals who are trying to improve their GPA before they apply for regular admission, or students who are "testing the waters" before they commit to a graduate degree. The category of "Non-degree seeking" exists to meet these needs."

In response to my e-mail request for clarification of the policy, Dianne Horgan, Associate Dean, Graduate College, stated, in part, that:

"Removing a student would require that the department recommends it and the grad college approves it. So neither the department nor the grad college alone could remove a student.

This policy could be used for disruptive students, but it is not limited to such cases. For example a student who is not performing well academically but continues to take classes could affect the quality of the classroom experience for the other students. Say a poorly-prepared student asks many, many questions and slows down the progress of the course. And this student continues to take courses, semester after semester, never 'getting' the material. This is not fair to students who are pursuing their degrees. We do not, for example, allow sophomores to take graduate courses for this reason; if they lack the necessary academic background and skills it can negatively affect the graduate students. This policy was approved (quite enthusiastically) by faculty senate as well as grad council, and they felt that while rare, students with poor academic skills can make it extremely difficult to teach a course and is unfair to other students. We have an obligation to protect the quality of graduate courses and this is one such tool. We do not have open admissions at UA."

The first thing you need to realize here is that this policy probably won't have any effect on you. My interpretation of the policy and the associated comments above, is that this policy will only be used in very rare circumstances.

At the same time, however, as the elected GPSC representative for non-degree seeking students, I have a duty to get involved if even one of my constituents is affected. Based on the statements by Dr. Velez quoted above, it appears that the policy has already been enforced against at least one student. To the extent that its my job to look out for the interests of my fellow non-degree seeking students, I feel an obligation to point out several aspects of this policy, and the way it is being implemented, that I perceive to be problematic.

First, on its face, the "Non-degree student probation policy" appears to be a purely academic policy; the comments above indicate, however, that the policy is intended to address not academic performance, but rather allegations of objectionable conduct (specifically, behavior that is disruptive and/or that diminishes the classroom experience for others). In essence, the policy permits a student's academic standing to be used as a reason to sanction different, potentially unrelated behaviors which are never explicitly set forth in the policy itself. (The policy does allude to academic weakness having the potential to negatively affect the quality of classroom interaction, but there is no explicit requirement that such negative effects be proven - or even alleged - as a prerequisite to applying this policy.) Consequently, in my opinion, the policy fails to provide sufficient due process -- especially if it is used to circumvent existing policies such as the Policy on Disruptive Behavior in an Instructional Setting (http://web.arizona.edu/~policy/disrupt.shtml). If you want to learn more about due process in an academic environment, I recommend a publication by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) called, "Fire's Guide to Due Process and Fair Procedure on Campus".

I am also concerned that the non-degree student probation policy will be ineffective in addressing the objectionable behavior in question (behavior that is disruptive and/or that diminishes the classroom experience for others), since the policy applies only to non-degree students on academic probation, but these behaviors could easily be exhibited by students not included in that classification. Complaints about academically unprepared students are not new, but the University has never implemented a policy to address this problem before. If the University now intends to do so, it does not seem appropriate to single out non-degree graduate students as the only population who could negatively affect the classroom experience of others due to poor academic skills.

I will be working with the graduate college to address these concerns. Naturally, if any of my fellow non-degree students have additional concerns about this policy, I will include those in my discussions -- just drop me an e-mail at: gpsc_nds@hotmail.com.

I would also appreciate hearing from any non-degree students who have been affected by this policy.

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Characteristics to look for in a good advisor, mentor, boss, or committee member
Feeling Awkward at professional Conferences
Association for the Support of Graduate Students (ASGS)
Advice on Research and Writing
How to Be a Good Graduate Student
A Guide for Applying to Graduate Schools
Graduate School(tm): The Game (Humor)
So long, and thanks for the Ph.D.
Getting In To Grad School
Getting In: An Applicants Guide To Graduate School Admissions.
A Directory of Graduate Programs Provided by Gradschools.com
The Art of Grantsmanship by Jacob Kraicer
Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal
Lots of Useful Links to Graduate and Professional School Information
The National Association of Graduate and Professional Students (NAGPS)
Survival Skills for Graduate Students
America's Best College Values
PhD student advice from the University of Queensland

Please check back here soon for a collection of questions asked by NDS students and answers supplied by local experts at the U of A.

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