Coterminal Tuition
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
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. A coterm student is subject to graduate tuition assessment and adjustment policies once placed in the coterm graduate tuition group (see below for information about when coterm students are moved into the graduate 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 their 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.
Undergraduate Coterm Tuition Group
Coterm students are normally placed in and remain in the undergraduate coterm tuition group until the completion of 12 undergraduate full-tuition quarters (15 undergraduate full-tuition quarters for dual degree students), or the student requests to transition to the graduate tuition group after 180 units (225 units for dual degree students) are completed, or until conferral of the undergraduate degree(s). For students with transfer credit (not AP or other test credit), 15 transfer units equals one Stanford quarter. 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 20-21, where full or part time enrollment is equal to one Stanford quarter and will be counted towards a student's permissible limit.
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 career 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
Coterminal students in the graduate tuition group are assessed either the regular graduate tuition rate or the graduate Engineering tuition rate. Students in the graduate coterm student group 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.
Transitions to the Graduate Billing Group
Once coterm students have been moved to the graduate tuition group, they may not move back to the undergraduate tuition group. Coterminal students in the undergraduate tuition group are moved to the graduate tuition group upon conferral of the undergraduate degree, completion of permissible limit in undergraduate billing, or by student request.
Eligibility for coterm billing switch request
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 minimum number of units to be eligible (see the chart below). All undergraduate units, including transfer and test credit, are used in calculating unit completion.
BA, BS, BAH, BSH (including double majors); BAS; BASH: 180 units
BA + BS or BAH + BSH (official dual degrees): 225 units
Must submit a SU Services and Support Request ticket to initiate the switch from undergraduate to graduate billing.
When students reach their permissible limit in undergraduate billing
Students are automatically moved from the undergraduate billing group to the graduate billing group once they have completed a certain number of undergraduate quarters.
Undergraduate quarters are calculated in all the below ways:
Any non-Summer Quarter (full- or part-time) in which a student is enrolled. With the exception of Summer Quarter 20-21, where full or part-time enrollment is equal to one Stanford quarter and will be counted towards a student's permissible limit.
15 transfer units (excluding AP or other test credit) are equal to one Stanford quarter. Example: a coterm student has completed 10 non-Summer Quarters at Stanford, but also has 30 units of external transfer credit posted to their record; that would mean the student has (for the purpose of coterm billing) 12 quarters completed, and the student would thus be moved to the graduate billing group.
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 billing and notified via email. Once students have been moved to the graduate billing group, they may not be moved back to the undergraduate billing group. Students should be advised that external transfer credit can impact how soon they are moved to the graduate billing group, and should plan accordingly.
BA (including double majors, honors), BS (including double majors, honors), and BAS (including honors) may remain in the undergraduate billing group up to 12 quarters, and are automatically moved to the graduate billing group in their 13th quarter.
BA + BS (dual/concurrent bachelor's degree) may remain in the undergraduate billing group up to 15 quarters, and are automatically moved to the graduate billing group in their 16th quarter.
Coterm 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).
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 billing group in order to receive funding from their department. If a student is not already in the graduate billing group then the student must initiate the request to be moved to the graduate coterm tuition group (see the "Student-initiated Request" 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 GAP 7.3 Assistantships, for detailed discussion of assistantship policy.