Student Affairs
Coterm Tuition Assessment
On This Page: Undergraduate Tuition Group • Graduate Tuition Group • Checking Which Tuition Group You're In • Transitioning from UG to GR Billing Group • Assistantships • Financial Aid
Undergraduate Tuition Group
Coterm students in the undergraduate tuition group:
- are assessed the undergraduate tuition rate (please refer to the Tuition and Fees page for more information)
- are able to enroll in as few as 12 units, and up to 20 units, total, each quarter
- will receive an enrollment hold (effective the following quarter) if they exceed the maximum permissible units (20) without an approved exception
- generally remain in the undergraduate tuition group until the completion of 12 undergraduate quarters, at which point they are moved automatically to the graduate tuition group (please refer to the Transitioning from UG to GR Billing Group section below)
- who confer their undergraduate degree are automatically moved to the graduate billing group
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Graduate Tuition Group
Coterm students in the graduate tuition group:
- are assessed either the graduate tuition rate (or the graduate engineering tuition rate, depending on the program). Students should refer to the Tuition and Fees page for more information
- are able to enroll in as few as 8 units, and up to 24 units, total, each quarter
- will receive an enrollment hold (effective the following quarter) if they exceed the maximum permissible units (24)
- are not eligible for reduced graduate tuition rates (fewer than 8 units) prior to the conferral of the undergraduate degree
- may not be moved back to the undergraduate tuition group once placed in the graduate tuition group
Checking Which Tuition Group You're In
To confirm which tuition group you are in, run a graduate transcript report. Below are screen shots of how the undergraduate and graduate billing groups appear on the transcript.
Transitioning from the Undergraduate Tuition Group to the Graduate Tuition Group
Coterminal students in the undergraduate tuition group are moved to the graduate tuition group if any one of the following occurs:
1. Conferral of undergraduate degree
Once coterm students have conferred their undergraduate degree(s), they are moved to the graduate tuition group. Once coterm students have been moved to the graduate tuition group, they may not move back to the undergraduate tuition group.
2. Student request to switch from undergraduate to graduate billing
Coterm students in the undergraduate tuition group who have fewer than 12 quarters at Stanford but who want to enroll at the 8, 9, 10 unit graduate tuition rate may request to be moved to the graduate tuition group if they meet all of the below eligibility requirements. If the student meets these conditions, then the student may request to be moved to the graduate billing group by submitting a SU Services and Support Request ticket by the deadline. Students requesting to be moved to the graduate billing group in order to accept a CA/RA/TA-ship, may also submit their request via SU Services and Support Request ticket; see the Assistantships section for more information.
Deadline to submit billing switch request
Students should submit their request to switch billing groups no later than the Final Study List deadline of the quarter they are requesting the billing change to be effective.
Eligibility for coterm billing switch request
- 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.
- 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.
- Must submit a SU Services and Support Request ticket to initiate the switch from undergraduate to graduate billing.
3. 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 multiple ways (please refer to the calculation of undergraduate quarters section below). Once a student has completed 12 quarters (or 15 quarters, if pursuing a dual/concurrent bachelor's degree- please refer to the below chart) they will be switched or automatically placed into graduate billing upon matriculation. Students are notified via automated email of this switch, unless they are placed into the graduate billing upon matriculation in their first graduate quarter. 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 units can impact how soon they are moved to the graduate billing group, and should plan accordingly. Flex quarters taken during the 2020-21 Academic Year will not count towards a coterminal students permissible limit in the undergraduate coterm tuition group.
Calculation of undergraduate quarters
Undergraduate quarters, for the purpose of coterm billing, are calculated in all of the following 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.
When 13th (or 16th) quarter coterm billing transitions occur:
| ACTIVE DEGREE(S) | # OF QUARTERS ALLOWED IN UG BILLING BEFORE AUTOMATIC MOVE TO GR BILLING | QUARTER THAT GR BILLING BECOMES EFFECTIVE |
|---|---|---|
| BA (including double majors, honors) | 12 quarters | 13th quarter |
| BS (including double majors, honors) | 12 quarters | 13th quarter |
| BAS | 12 quarters | 13th quarter |
| BA + BS (dual/concurrent bachelor's degree) | 15 quarters | 16th quarter |
Tuition and Fee information is available on the Office of the University Registrar web site.
Coterm Students with Assistantships
Coterm students who receive course assistant (CA), research assistant (RA), or teaching assistant (TA) appointments from a department while still assigned to the undergraduate billing group must be moved into the graduate billing group in order to be assessed the applicable graduate tuition rate and to be funded by the department (departments are unable to enter in aid for students not active in the graduate billing group). Please see the student request to switch from undergraduate to graduate billing section above for eligibility and process information.
Policies
- Students holding a 20-hour (50%) teaching or research assistantship may not enroll in more than 10 total units.
- Once students have been moved to the graduate tuition group, they may not move back to the undergraduate 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 additional information regarding assistantship policy.
Financial Aid for Coterms
Students should contact a Financial Aid Counselor in the Financial Aid Office.
