The MFA is a three-year, 54 semester-hour degree. Students are in residence and enrolled full-time, typically for three classes each in the fall and spring semesters. There are no summer classes.

The degree plan combines both writing workshops with critical reading and studies courses. Other supporting coursework requirements are flexible, allowing you to take classes that feed into your writing projects. The rich course offerings of the University's many excellent graduate programs allow for a wide variety of choices, but the focus of the MFA program is on completing publishable and produceable creative work. Your thesis will chiefly be a project in your primary field of writing, but will also include representative work in your secondary field.

Through a community outreach option, students can satisfy certain degree requirements by developing outside writing workshops and gaining hands-on teaching experience.