Master’s Degree

General Requirements for the Master’s Degree

To be eligible to receive the master’s degree each candidate must:

1. Complete the specified general degree requirements.
2. Complete the number of specified hours of graduate work after admission to candidacy and an acceptable thesis, if required.
3. Satisfy the general and specific requirements for the degree to which the candidate aspires.

Grade, Credit, and Time Requirements

1. Each degree candidate must present acceptable grades in coursework specified for a curriculum. Grades must average B or better, both over-all and in the major field. No more than 6 semester hours with a grade of C may be applied toward the fulfillment of degree requirements. A student who earns a third C becomes ineligible to continue in graduate school. In no case may a student earn more than 6 credit hours carrying a grade of C. Some departments have higher grade requirements.
2. At least one-half of the minimum number of semester hours required in the student’s curriculum (not including thesis credit) must be taken in courses limited to graduate students.
3. Upon satisfactory completion of a thesis, a total of 6 hours of thesis credit will be applied towards the fulfillment of degree requirements in appropriate programs.
4. A student who does not present a thesis must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of coursework.
5. To apply toward a master’s degree, course credit must be earned within six calendar years. All grades received, even those earned in courses over six years old, are used in computing grade-point averages for graduate work.
6. All degree regulations must be completed within six calendar years following admission to a master’s program. Admission is defined as the first semester the student is enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
7. A maximum of 6 semester hours of graduate credit for application toward the master’s degree may be earned in courses in the sequence 497-498, 597-598, and 697-698 or in other individual or special studies courses.

Admission to Candidacy

1. Admission to candidacy for a master’s degree is recognition of a stage in advancement toward the degree.
2. Prior to the student applying for admission to candidacy, the student’s advisory committee must be named according to the procedure established by the department or program concerned. In all cases, the committee must be chaired by a member of the UL Lafayette Graduate Faculty. The committee is generally comprised of three to five members. See F. 1. and G. 1.
3. After having completed 12 semester hours of graduate degree credit with a grade-point average of 3.0 or better, a student classified in regular admission status shall submit, on a form provided by the Graduate School office, a written application for admission to candidacy for the master’s degree. Prior to submission of the application, a plan of study must have been approved by the student’s advisory committee, each member of which must sign the application for candidacy form before it is transmitted to the Graduate School.
4. The written application for admission to candidacy should be submitted no later than 10 class days after the first day of classes in the next semester in which the student is enrolled after having become eligible to apply for admission to candidacy. The applicant should, if possible, indicate on the application form a tentative thesis title if in a program that requires a thesis. Students who do not submit applications will be blocked from future registration.
5. Each application for admission to candidacy for a master’s degree must be approved by the Graduate Dean. No person whose proficiency in English is unsatisfactory, will be admitted to candidacy.

Residence Requirement

A student must satisfy residence requirements by successfully completing a minimum of 21 hours of degree-program credit on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. An exception to this regulation is in the College of Education, where students may satisfy degree requirements by completing successfully a minimum of 18 semester hours of degree-program credit on campus. Other exceptions may be made in recognized distance-learning programs.

Comprehensive Examination

1. A comprehensive examination committee is generally comprised of three to five members, at least two must be members of the UL Lafayette Graduate Faculty. In all cases, the committee must be chaired by a member of the Graduate Faculty. The UL Lafayette Graduate Faculty members shall constitute a simple majority of the committee.
2. Each candidate for a master’s degree will be required to demonstrate a general, comprehensive knowledge of a field of study. Each department, with the approval of the Graduate Council, specifies the means by which this knowledge is demonstrated. Examples are: a) a written and/or oral comprehensive examination; b) fulfillment of the requirements of an integrative (capstone) course; or c) overall performance on a set of core courses. Students should check the specific degree sections of this catalog.
3. A student’s success in fulfilling the comprehensive requirement will be judged, usually in the student’s last semester, by a committee approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. If an examination is required, it shall be administered by the committee which usually consists of the members of the faculty who are on the student’s advisory committee.
4. The student’s success or failure to meet the comprehensive requirement must be reported to the Dean of the Graduate School no later than the date specified in the schedule of classes for the student’s final semester.
5. The candidate must be registered as a student during the semester the comprehensive requirement is completed.
6. Satisfactory completion of the comprehensive requirement is determined by unanimous vote of the committee, except where the degree-granting department has specified in the catalog a different standard.
7. In instances where the Dean of the Graduate School is an official member of the student’s committee, the Chair of the Graduate Council is designated to receive the report of the committee.
8. A candidate who fails all or part of the comprehensive requirement must register in the Graduate School for at least one additional semester or summer session before being allowed a second attempt. No candidate will be permitted a third attempt.

Thesis

1. A master’s thesis committee is generally comprised of three to five members, at least three members of which must be members of the UL Lafayette Graduate Faculty. The UL Lafayette Graduate Faculty members shall always constitute a simple majority of the committee membership regardless of the number of total committee members. All members of a thesis committee at UL Lafayette shall be voting members of said committee with the privilege of signing the approval page of the thesis. Only graduate faculty members at UL Lafayette may serve as chair and/or co-chair of a thesis committee. This includes adjunct faculty who are members of the UL Lafayette Graduate Faculty.
2. Committee members from outside the UL Lafayette faculty may serve as outside members of the thesis committee with the privileges of voting and signing the thesis approval page. These members shall be chosen based upon their qualifications by the thesis committee. A minimum of three members must participate in the defense of thesis. The Dean of the Graduate School may appoint an outside observer to represent the Graduate Faculty, according to the Outside Observer  policies.
3. The master’s thesis demonstrates the student’s ability to plan research and to collect, arrange, interpret, and report material about a significant problem. The thesis must be written in a clear style and must exhibit the student’s competence in scholarly methods and procedures.
4. Unless specified otherwise, a thesis is required for each master’s degree. Non-thesis options are available for certain programs.
5. Each student whose degree program prescribes the completion of a thesis must file the subject and tentative title with the Graduate School office at the time of application for admission to candidacy.
6. A student actively engaged in work on a thesis, as determined by the student’s thesis chair, must be officially enrolled for thesis credit, whether the student is or is not on campus. Thesis credit will be scheduled and recorded as agreed upon by the student and thesis chair in light of the anticipated amount of time and effort to be devoted to the thesis project.
7. The thesis must be prepared according to the requirements specified in the publication, Guidelines for the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations.
8. Before the deadline specified by the advisory committee, each student in a thesis program must present to the committee a typed copy (or copies if prescribed by the major department) of the thesis in draft form. The thesis must be in this form by the time the student takes the portion of the comprehensive examination concerned with research results and with the thesis. Grammatical, typographical, and other minor corrections may be made to the draft thesis subsequent to the taking of the comprehensive examination, but the changes must be made prior to the deadline for submission of the thesis in finished format.
9. The thesis is officially accepted upon unanimous vote of the thesis committee, except in instances where the degree-granting department or administrative unit has specified in writing a different standard of acceptance.
10. One perfect copy of the thesis in final, finished format must be presented to the Graduate School office for the official approval of the Graduate Dean by the date designated in the schedule of classes. The required copy must conform to the requirements specified in the publication, Guidelines for the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations. Students are reminded that “perfect copy” refers to both content and format. Theses not meeting these guidelines will be returned. Failure to meet deadlines may delay graduation.
11. When the final copy of the thesis is presented to the Graduate School for the Dean’s approval, the student must submit one original certificates of approval signed by each member of the committee, to be signed later by the Dean of the Graduate School and incorporated into the final copy of the thesis. Original signatures in black ink are required on the approval sheet; copies of the approval sheet with duplicated signatures are not acceptable.
12. In instances where the Dean of the Graduate School is an official member of a student’s thesis committee, the approval sheet of the thesis will contain the name, rank, and signature of the Chair of the Graduate Council in the space normally provided for the Dean of the Graduate School. In such instances, the Dean will sign only as a member of the thesis committee.
13. A thesis abstract, not to exceed 300 words, must accompany each the final copy of the thesis. Two additional copies of the abstract must be furnished to the Graduate School office at the time the thesis is presented.
14. Each candidate must pay a binding charge of $15.00 per copy for the required copy of the thesis presented to the Graduate School office. In cases where special binding expenses are incurred, the student may be required to pay additional charges. The Graduate School office makes the arrangements for binding. The final copy of the thesis will be provided to the Dupre Library. Additional copies are to be prepared as specified by the candidate’s department, or as desired by the candidate for personal use, at a binding charge of $15.00 per copy. Additional copies of the thesis are not required to be printed on archival quality paper, as specified in the Guidelines for the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations, but are required to include original certificates of approval with committee members’ signatures.
15. In addition, all master’s students must submit a PDF of the final version of the thesis to Proquest/UMI ETD Administrator. All submissions must be published under the “Open Access” option through ProQuest/UMI Dissertations Publishing and students must pay the $95.00 publishing fee. If the “Traditional Publishing” option is selected, then the student will be required to resubmit their thesis under the “Open Access” option. If the “Embargo” option is selected, the student must have already obtained permission for an embargo from the Graduate School. Students who select the embargo option without securing permission will be required to resubmit their thesis with the “Embargo” option deselected. Students that request, for whatever reason, an embargo on the release of their work must still submit to ProQuest/UMI Dissertations Publishing. If the embargo request is approved by the Graduate School, then their thesis or dissertation will be stored within the ProQuest/UMI database until the schedule lift date of the embargo.
16. The University does not copyright theses. A student who wishes copyright must make all necessary arrangements. Proquest/UMI Dissertations Publishing provides a copyright filing service for an additional fee.

Master’s Degree Check-List

The items in the following check-list are arranged in the order in which they are usually accomplished. Each step must be followed to complete degree requirements. Failure to complete an item may compromise earning the degree.

1. Took Graduate Record Examination prior to first semester of study.
2. (If applicable) Submitted valid teacher’s certificate.
3. Prepared outline of curriculum with department head or advisor.
4. (If applicable) Removed conditional status with at least a 3.0 average after the first 12 hours.
5. Had advisory committee appointed prior to applying for admission to candidacy.
6. Admitted to candidacy after 12 hours.
7. (If applicable) Filed subject of thesis at the time of admission to candidacy.
8. (If applicable) Completed language requirement.
9. Completed and turned in to the Graduate School office the Graduation Check-List by the end of the first week of the last semester of graduate work.
10. Submitted Application for Degree and paid diploma fee by the end of the first week of the last semester of study.
11. Completed residence requirements.
12. Took the written and/or oral examination as required and within the prescribed time limits.
13. Maintained at least a 3.0 average over-all and in major field, with no more than two grades of C and no more than 6 credit hours with a grade of C in courses to be applied toward the fulfillment of degree requirements, and with at least one-half of the total number of course credits required having been earned in courses limited to graduate students.
14. Completed courses listed on outline of curriculum.
15. (If applicable) Turned in, or made arrangements for turning in, to the Graduate School office by the date approved by the Dean four copies of the thesis in perfect, finished form, each with an approval sheet with original signatures in black ink and a thesis abstract, and two extra copies of the abstract, and paid thesis binding charge of $15.00 per copy.
16. Attended graduation exercises, unless excused in advance in writing by the Dean of the Graduate School.