Coterminal Tuition
Policy Summary
Coterm students are assigned to either the undergraduate coterm tuition group or the graduate coterm tuition group. The tuition group dictates a student's tuition rates, enrollment policies, access to some University services and benefits, and degree progress standards.
Policy Statement
Coterminal Enrollment
Coterm students may enroll in courses on either their undergraduate or graduate transcript; however, their total enrollment will be assessed per their coterm tuition group.
Coterm students are not eligible for undergraduate special registration statuses (with the exception of Graduation Quarter, if the student is applying to confer both the undergraduate and graduate degrees in the same quarter). Coterm students may only be eligible to apply for specific graduate special registration statuses once their undergraduate degrees have been conferred, or if their undergraduate degree is being conferred in the registration quarter (See Special Registration Status for Coterminal Students for specific guidelines).
Undergraduate Coterm Tuition Group (“COTU”)
Coterminal students are placed in the undergraduate coterm tuition group until they have completed twelve (12) undergraduate quarters (see “Reaching the Undergraduate Tuition Limit” below for definition of a coterminal undergraduate quarter). Students enrolled in both a BA and BS degree program are placed into the undergraduate coterm tuition group until they have completed fifteen (15) undergraduate quarters.
Students in the undergraduate coterm tuition group are assessed the undergraduate tuition rate, and may enroll in as few as 12 units and up to 20 units each quarter (regardless of which degree career the courses are assigned to). Students enrolled in over 20 units across both careers are subject to an enrollment hold effective the following quarter.
Graduate Coterm Tuition Group (“COTG”)
Upon completion of their 12th or 15th quarter, as appropriate, students will be administratively moved to the Graduate coterm tuition group (COTG). If the student has already completed the applicable maximum number of undergraduate quarters at the time of matriculation into the coterminal program, they will be placed directly into the COTG group.
Coterminal students in the graduate tuition group are assessed either the regular graduate tuition rate or the graduate Engineering tuition rate. COTG students are assessed additional graduate or Engineering tuition on a per-unit basis beginning with the 19th unit. Once a student is placed in the graduate coterm tuition group, they may not move back to the undergraduate coterm tuition group.
COTG students are traditionally not eligible for reduced graduate tuition rates below 8 units during autumn, winter, and spring quarters prior to conferral of the undergraduate degree. However, coterm graduate students with disabilities covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act may enroll in an approved reduced course load as recommended by the Office of Accessible Education (OAE).
Reaching the Undergraduate Tuition Limit
Any non-summer quarter (full- or part-time) in which a student is enrolled counts toward a student’s total undergraduate quarters; additionally, each 15 units of transfer coursework accepted by the university will be counted as one undergraduate quarter. External test credit may not be counted toward transfer credit totals for this purpose. Students should be advised that external transfer credit can impact how soon they are moved to the graduate tuition group, and should plan accordingly. An example of how transfer credit is applied to the permissible limit can be found here.
Students who take a leave of absence after the final study list deadline of any non-summer quarter will have that quarter counted towards their permissible limit in the undergraduate tuition group.
Stanford Summer quarters and Flex term, regardless of units taken, will not count towards a coterminal student’s permissible limit in the undergraduate coterm tuition group (with the exception of summer quarter AY 2020-21, where full or part-time enrollment is equal to one Stanford quarter and will be counted towards a student's permissible limit).
Once a student has completed 12 quarters (or 15 quarters, if pursuing a dual/concurrent bachelor's degree; see below), they are automatically switched to graduate tuition and notified via email.
Transitions to the Graduate Tuition Group
A student’s tuition group will be switched if any one of the following three instances occurs. From that point forward, they are assessed the standard graduate or graduate Engineering tuition rate.
Upon completion of the 12th (or 15th for dual degree students) undergraduate quarter, coterminal students are automatically moved to the graduate tuition group.
Students may request to transition to the graduate tuition group after 180 units (225 units for dual degree students) are completed (See Eligibility for Coterm Tuition Switch Request)
Coterminal students who do not reach their maximum prior-to graduation will be switched to graduate Tuition upon conferral of their bachelor’s degree.
Once students have been moved to the graduate tuition group, they may not be moved back to the undergraduate tuition group. Students may not request to be returned to undergraduate tuition for any reason.
Eligibility to Request Early Tuition Switch
Coterminal students may request to be moved to the graduate tuition group prior to the 13th quarter (or 16th quarter for dual degree students) by submitting a help request by the deadline. Students may request to be moved to the graduate tuition group under the following conditions:
Student must have an active graduate career. Students with a pending coterm application can request to move to the graduate tuition group only after they receive email confirmation that their coterm program has matriculated.
Student must have met the University minimum number of units to be eligible.
BA, BS, BAH, BSH (including double majors), BAS and BASH: 180 units
BA + BS or BAH + BSH (official dual degrees): 225 units
All undergraduate units, including transfer and test credit, are used in calculating unit completion.
Coterm Students with Research or Teaching Assistantships
Coterm students who are eligible for a teaching (CA/TA) or research (RA) assistantship appointment must be in the graduate tuition group in order to receive funding from their department. If a student is not already in the graduate tuition group then the student must initiate the request to be moved to the graduate coterm tuition group (see the "Eligibility to Request Early Tuition Switch" section above). Students holding a 20 hour (50%) teaching or research assistantship may not enroll in more than 10 total units. Additionally, once students have moved to the graduate coterm tuition group, they may not be moved back to the undergraduate coterm tuition group even if they no longer hold an assistantship appointment.
See Administrative Guide Memo 10.2.1 Graduate Student Assistantships, and for detailed discussion of assistantship policy.
Implementation Information
Students may review the resources on Coterminal Tuition Assessment for specific information on billing policy and tuition scenarios.