Tuition Requirements for the Master's Degree -- The minimum total tuition that must be paid for a master’s degree is an amount equal to one annual tuition payment (eight tuition units). Some multi-year master’s programs have either a higher total tuition requirement or an eight unit requirement sparsed out for more than 2 semesters. If the Graduate Council approves a standard program leading to a master’s degree that requires fewer than four courses per semester, but more than one year of the equivalent of full-time enrollment, or in the event that the normal enrollment pattern is not consistent with the normal academic year (e.g., the MAT and MFA programs), students officially enrolled in such programs will be charged at the rate per semester as set forth by the Graduate Council or by approval of the Dean of the Graduate School for the length of the program.

Learn about terminal masters programs

Ph.D. students must pay tuition for the equivalent of three years of full-time study. Students who have fulfilled the tuition requirement, but not the academic requirements for their degree, continue to pay full-time tuition until their academic work has been completed. After the residency requirement has been met, Ph.D. students may continue to enroll in additional course work and receive academic credit. (Note that the Graduate School offers incoming doctoral students five years of guaranteed financial support, including tuition remission.)

Part-time and Non-degree students will be charged tuition at the rate of one tuition unit per course.

The total tuition required for a degree will be reduced by one tuition unit for each semester course of transfer credit (to a maximum of one tuition unit for a master's degree--two in 14-course programs--and eight tuition units for a doctorate).

For students enrolled in combined degree programs which include the M.D. degree, the tuition requirement for the M.D. degree covers the minimum total tuition requirement for 1 year of PhD. Study. (In short, rather than 24 units, 16 are required.)

No student may take examinations, use any of the facilities of the University, including the services of a dissertation or thesis advisor, submit a thesis or dissertation, or be a candidate for an advanced degree unless properly enrolled.

In general, enrollment privileges, other than registration for courses, will be extended beyond the end of one academic year to the beginning of the next academic year (that is, over the summer months) without additional tuition charge. Official certification of a specific enrollment status (full-time or part-time) during all or part of this period, however, will be subject to conditions established by the Dean of the Graduate School and the Registrar in cooperation with the appropriate academic departments.

Students who re-enroll after an approved leave of absence or a withdrawal with the advance permission of the Dean of the Graduate School, including for the sole purpose of filing a thesis or dissertation, will be charged a readmission fee equal to 6.25% of half the annual tuition. Students who are withdrawn on the University's initiative for failure to register or some other cause will, if subsequently readmitted, be charged both the readmission fee and a re-enrollment equal to 6.25% of half the annual tuition. 

Students who re-enroll either after a medical leave or after a leave approved by the Dean of the Graduate School for care of a newborn child or a newly adopted child, or for other extraordinary circumstances, will not be charged a readmission fee. Students experiencing financial hardship should contact Joel Revill, Deputy Dean for Academic & Student Affairs to request a fee waiver.

Annual tuition

The course fee fixed by the Corporation of the University for a given academic year.

Tuition Unit

One-eighth of the annual tuition