Section 5. Residence Requirements

5.10 General
5.20 Master’s Degree
5.30 Doctoral Degree

5.10 General

Graduate Manual Revisions approved by the Graduate Council on April 29, 2019

5.11. Residence at the University means attendance on campus or in the College of Education and Professional Studies during a regularly scheduled semester or summer term. If authorized by the Dean of the Graduate School, URI-approved courses and programs delivered online or offsite by URI faculty, study carried on elsewhere under a University of Rhode Island faculty or adjunct professor or in a laboratory having a University of Rhode Island affiliation may also qualify as residence study.

5.20 Master’s Degree

5.21. The master’s degree may be earned either through full or part-time study or by a combination of both. Students must take at least four-fifths of the credits required for the degree at the University. Upon the recommendation of the student’s program committee and Graduate Program Director, and upon the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School, the amount of work accepted in transfer may be increased. See Section 7.21.

5.30 Doctoral Degree

5.31. The minimum requirement for the doctoral degree is 64 credit hours of study beyond the bachelor’s degree. Students must take at least 53% (34 credits in a 64 credit hour program) of their doctoral work in residence as defined above. After satisfying qualifying exam requirements, the student must maintain residence by taking a minimum of 6 credits (specific graduate programs may require more than 6 credits) for at least two consecutive semesters. Full-time registration for both terms of a summer session counts as one semester of residence. See Section 7.55 for qualifying exam requirements. (Amended March 6, 2023)