Final Credit Hours Policy

UNIVERSITY DECISION

It is the decision of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to offer graduate level students seeking master’s or doctoral degrees the option to claim “final hours” in order to qualify for full-time status, despite being registered for fewer hours than necessary to achieve that classification.

PERTINENT INFORMATION

A student in her/his final semester or summer session registering only for a thesis or dissertation may register for “final hours.” When a student declares “final hours” for a semester, the student shall be considered enrolled in a full-time course load for that semester. The student pays tuition based upon the number of credit hours for which he/she registers.

UNIVERSITY PROCEDURE

Both Ph.D. and M.S. students must register for a minimum of 1 semester credit hour. The Request for Designation of Final Hours Form is available online. It must be completed along with required signatures and submitted to the Office of the University Registrar by the first official class day according to the student’s respective academic calendar. A student may register for final credit hours only once during her/his degree program. If a student registers for a subsequent semester and registers for fewer hours than necessary to be classified as full-time, the student will be classified and reported as less than full-time.