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The University of Texas at Austin

14 Semester Rule on Student Employment (2/16/2004)

The prior limit on academic appointments of 12 semesters was changed to 14 semesters by vote of the Graduate Assembly in Fall 1999. The Graduate Assembly's discussion centered on the idea that 14 semesters of student academic employment was sufficient to complete a degree and that beyond that period the student/supervisor/program would need to find other means of support. In increasing the limit from 12 to 14 semesters, the Graduate Assembly stipulated that there would be no exceptions to the new limit.

The Graduate School recently discovered students with academic appointments of as little as 5 hours per week who were adversely impacted by the 14 semester limit. The Graduate School believes that the intent of the Graduate Assembly was to limit to 14 the number of standard half-time appointments of 20 hours per week. This memo serves to adjust the calculation of the appointment for the purposes of the 14 semester rule consistent with the intent of the Graduate Assembly.

Revised Calculation of Semesters of Support

  1. The student is limited to fourteen semesters of support at the standard 20-hour per week appointment. There are no exceptions to the 14 semester limit.
  2. Any semester during which the student receives an academic appointment of 20 hours per week or more, regardless of the period of appointment, will count as one full semester for purposes of the 14 semester rule.
  3. A student academic appointment for fewer than 20 hours per week, regardless of the period of appointment, will count as an appropriate fraction of a semester. For example, a 5-hour appointment represents 1/4 of a semester of support. Four 5-hour appointments over four semesters represent one full standard semester toward the 14 semester limit.
  4. A student having accumulated, for example, 13 1/2 semesters of support, is limited to only 10 more hours of appointment to complete a total of fourteen and become ineligible for further student academic appointment.

Notes

  1. There is nothing new here for those programs accustomed to standard half-time, or the occasional more than half-time, appointments. The 14 semester limit continues in force, and there are no exceptions.
  2. The 14 semester rule is equally in force, with no exceptions, for students affected by the revised calculation described above.
  3. Programs are urged to inform students of the 14 semester limit at the beginning of the academic curriculum. Promises to support the student throughout their program of study can only be met beyond the 14 semester limit with some form of non-academic appointment appropriate to the work being performed by the student.
  4. The base procedure for making student academic appointments remains unchanged. The Graduate School audit will prevent appointment beyond the 14 semester limit consistent with past practice. For students whose appointments are blocked by the Graduate School audit for the 14 semester limit and who have had fractional appointments at less than 20 hours, the student's program will notify the Graduate School. The Graduate School will update the calculation and will inform the program of any remaining semesters or fractions of semesters for which the student may receive additional appointment.