FAQs about Dropping and Phasing Out Graduate Educational Offerings

Dropping a graduate educational program is the formal process of closing a graduate educational program when an academic unit no longer wishes to offer that program. A program change or program drop proposal submitted to the Graduate Council is required to drop a graduate educational program (see below). Program proposals are submitted through the Graduate Council curricular review process.

Degree programs, options in degree programs, adoptions of dual-title degree programs, IUG programs and joint degree programs can be dropped. A graduate program is dropped if all its degrees are dropped.

Graduate educational programs that have been approved to be dropped enter Phase Out.

After a degree program has been formally dropped, it is put into “phase out”. No one can apply or be admitted to the graduate educational program that has been dropped. However, students who are already enrolled in the graduate educational program are allowed to complete the program.

If a program no longer intends to admit or enroll students, the graduate educational program should be dropped and phased out. Until a degree is officially dropped, it will continue to be listed in the Graduate Bulletin, which is the official record of approved curricula for graduate programs at the University. It is the program’s responsibility to make regular updates to the Graduate Bulletin as needed to provide accurate curricular information to prospective and current students. Updating the Graduate Bulletin is done by submitting proposals through the Graduate Council curricular review process.

A program change proposal (to drop a specific degree, an option, a dual-title adoption or to drop an IUG or joint degree program) or a program drop proposal (to phase out the entire graduate program and all of its degrees) must be submitted and approved through the Graduate Council curricular review process.

The effective date for the drop and phase out should the last semester in which students will be admitted into the program. The program should state the requested semester for drop and phase out proposal via the Curriculum Inventory Management (CIM) system. However, the earliest a proposal can be effective is the semester following the completion of all required approval steps.

Before determining the requested effective date for drop and phase out, programs should check the GRADS application system to see if there are pending applicants for any future semesters. If the program does not want to admit pending applicants, the program is responsible for contacting applicants to let them know that the program is in the process of being closed.

If the program wants to stop admitting students prior to approval of the drop and phase out, the program should use the GRADS application settings (Begin/End Semester and Semesters of Admission) to prevent applications from being submitted.

When a program is dropped and put into phase out, students currently enrolled in the program who maintain continuous enrollment must be allowed to complete the program. Program specific time-to-degree limits and Graduate Council time limitations would still apply. If necessary, the college should consider accommodations for these students to enable them to complete their degrees, such as course substitutions.

Students currently in the program should be notified that the program is going into phase out, and that if they stop out of the program, there is no guarantee they will be able to resume study. Colleges can notify students of similar programs into which they can transfer, but cannot require students to transfer out of the phased out program.

If a program is in phase out and students who have stopped out apply to resume study, it is up to the program to determine whether that request can be accommodated. Students attempting to resume study in a phased-out program will need to submit a paper form as the online application will not be accessible in GRADS.