Dual Master’s Degree

A student may earn two master’s degrees congruently with shared credit. The requirements for the second master’s degree include a minimum of 30 graduate credits; a major in a different field of study; submission of a thesis, research paper, or creative project or completion of the appropriate research methodology course(s), depending on specific degree requirements; and the meeting of other master’s degree requirements as specified.

•  Students must apply to and be accepted by both programs as soon as possible but no later than the date the student applies for graduation for the first degree.

•  A plan for the program of study will be required and signed by representatives of each program (e.g. graduate coordinator or department chair/director), as well as the student, and filed with the respective departments and the Graduate School.

•  Shared credits can be double-counted. A limit is set on the number of double-counted credits at 9 credits for programs that contain fewer than 45 credits. If one of the two programs is greater than or equal to 45 credits, the program with more credits could accept up to 6 additional credits from the “smaller” degree in addition to the original 9 credits for a total of 15 credits.

•  A graduate student may complete capstones for either a single degree or both degrees, pursuant to agreement by all involved programs in addition to the 9 credits for the dual degree.

•  A student working on dual degrees is operating under two independent 6-year clocks. A student cannot share credits with a new program after he/she has applied to graduate. Should a student wish to pursue another master’s degree after filing for graduation, he/she must reapply to the Graduate School and work for a second master’s degree.