This page is for graduate students, especially those with Assistantship or Fellowship support. It clarifies the rules and procedures you need to know to get the most out of your tuition credits and to avoid paying costly tuition expenses on your own. Since the rules are set by SU Graduate School and the Registrar, so the Mathematics Department cannot offer you much help if they have not been followed.
Academic Advising
Graduate students without a Ph.D. advisor are assigned an academic advisor (Declan Quinn, Jani Onninen, or Yuan Yuan). For others, their Ph.D. advisor will also serve as an academic advisor.
Students may have dissertation/PhD advisors who are faculty outside the department or outside the university. The academic rules state:
“A faculty member from the department or program will be identified as the student’s dissertation advisor. The dissertation advisor should be a Syracuse University tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the program of study of student’s dissertation. In exceptional cases, where faculty emeriti or others with outstanding qualifications in the student’s area of research will direct the dissertation, a member of the Syracuse University faculty from the department/college must jointly oversee the preparation of the student’s dissertation.”
Students should discuss joint advising with their primary advisor and/or the graduate director before contacting the graduate school.
Registration, Tuition, and Auditing
Graduate students must be advised before registering (see above), and must register as soon as possible thereafter. Decisions to cancel upper-level courses, when necessary, are based on enrollments. In addition, teaching assignments are based on registration figures. SU rules on adding and dropping courses, summarized on the teaching page, apply to graduate students as well.
Registration problems
- In advance of registration, click View Holds on MySlice to make sure you can resolve them on time. The Registrar’s Holds page explains how to resolve them. It is common for graduate students to encounter DBT (no Degree-Bearing Transcript) hold when registering. To avoid this, request the official transcript from your undergraduate school to be sent to Graduate School admissions as soon as the degree is posted to the transcript.
- If you cannot enroll in a class because it is full, Ms. Kelly Jarvi may be able to help.
Zero-credit registration
You might want to register for zero credits if either (1) you are already at the total needed for your program, so have no tuition credits left, or (2) there are no courses offered in a given semester that you want to take. In this case you should register for GRD 998.
You could also register for MAT 999 (Dissertation Research) if you are engaged in your dissertation research, but should not register for more than a total of 30 credits over the course of your studies here.
All graduate students holding a fellowship, assistantship, or a full-tuition scholarship in a given semester will be considered full-time students for that semester by virtue of their holding that award. There is no minimum number of credits for which they must register in order to attain full-time status; however, those not registering for credit-bearing courses or thesis/dissertation credits must register for GRD 998 (“degree in progress”) for zero credits.
Using tuition credits
The Graduate School awards you tuition credit that supplements the Teaching Assistantship awarded by the Mathematics Department. For most Teaching Assistants with a full year assistantship, the tuition award is good for 24 credit hours of course work. If you are within 24 credits of the total needed for your program (currently 90), you will only be issued the number required to get to that total.
You should read your assistantship letter to determine the size of your credit hour award and any restriction on its use. Enrolling in more credits than you are issued can result in huge tuition bills. If there is a class you want/need to take for your program that would put you over the credits you are issued, you can request additional credits. The graduate director can help you write a petition to the Senior Associate Dean.
Credits can be used at the rate of 9 credit hours in each of the fall and spring semesters and 6 credit hours in the summer. (Caution: there are not usually very many graduate courses offered in the summer.)
- If you wish to register for more than 9 credit hours of course work in either the fall or spring semester, you must petition to move credits between semesters. To do so, see M’Tia Williams as early as practical. If you do not do this by the financial deadline, you will be billed for the additional credits.
- Credits cannot be moved from the past semesters.
- Math Education students may be required to take a 4 credit class at some point. Please plan your tuition credits accordingly.
Awarded credits can also be used for courses outside the College of Arts and Sciences (e.g. an engineering class at ECS). However, you must speak with your advisor and the graduate director before registering for those courses to see if they are applicable to the degree and your research area.
Courses and tuition credits for summer
- Once you have filed a diploma request on MySlice, you lose any tuition credits that remain after the listed graduation date. For example, if you plan to take a summer course (or courses) and do not wish to pay the tuition for them yourself, do not list a graduation date that is before the end of the session in which the course is offered.
- Although teaching in summer gives you extra salary, it does not give you any additional tuition credits.
Special circumstances
If you carry fewer than 12 credit hours without holding an assistantship and need to be certified as a full-time student, please see Julie O’Connor.
Important: If you have completed all your degree requirements but wish to take a course after that completion date, be sure to speak with Julie O’Connor before completing your Diploma Request on MySlice.
Independent study
If you are interested in a topic not covered by the regular courses, consider Independent Study (MAT 690). The format varies, but usually involves you reading a book or a paper on your own and discussing it with the professor in charge of the course. Hence, you will need to find a professor willing to do this. Together with the professor you fill out the Proposal for Independent Study (see Graduate Student Forms and Procedures) and submit it to the Registrar’s office by the Add deadline. After a little while MAT 690 will appear on your MySlice schedule. The course carries elective credit, typically 1-3 credits.
Caution: since the total number of credits covered by Teaching Assistantship is limited, taking too many MAT 690 courses may limit your ability to take courses for credit in the future. Taking 690 for just 1 credit is one way to avoid this.
Audit
Graduate students supported by either Fellowship or TAship are eligible to audit courses during Fall and Spring (not summer) at no additional charge (see here, page 4 on the bottom right). Audit earns no credit and fulfills no requirements. It may be a useful option for students who would like to participate in a course but do not have enough time or background knowledge to do all homework and exams. Students who audit a course appear on the roster, which means they receive class roster email, have access to Blackboard materials, etc.
Tutoring
Private Tutoring
Graduate students may be put on the private tutoring list for the Fall and Spring semesters. You will receive an email at the beginning of each semester asking for the courses you would like to be a private tutor for. You cannot be a tutor for courses you are teaching that semester. You and the student set the tutoring rate and the times you will meet.
If you are an international student, please keep in mind your visa may not allow you to be a private tutor.
Math Help/Calculus Clinic
Second year students are required to work Math Help clinic hours. Kelly Jarvi will ask for your availability at the beginning of each semester. The Math Help Clinic is in Carnegie 102 and the Calculus Clinic is held at the same time. The Calculus Clinic consists of undergraduate workers who only help with calculus courses.
Travel support
The department has funds for travel (see also job search support). In recent years nearly every request for travel funds has been met. All requests for travel support have to be approved by the Department Chair. On the Forms page you can find a copy of the Travel Grant Proposal and instructions. See Julie O’Connor for details.
The graduate school also provides limited funds.
Colloquiums and Seminars
Coffee Time
Twice a week, faculty and graduate students gather to enjoy coffee/cookies and socialize.
MGO Colloquium
Unless you have a time conflict, you should attend every MGO Colloquium. The talks are short and more accessible than a typical seminar. You should consider speaking there as well, to share any neat math you learned in an advanced undergrad course or read on your own.
Departmental Colloquium
Most of our colloquia are given by mathematicians from outside SU, who (attempt to) present a mostly accessible overview of the subject of their interest, including their contributions to it. Traditionally, they are more elementary at the beginning. You may or may not understand much of the second half, but the effort to understand an advanced concept is of its own benefit.
Seminars
Some of our research groups run regular seminars. Your attendance will correlate with your interest in the field.