Students of whom all of the following are true are subject to the policy: 

• Graduate student
• RP issued in S12, Summer 2012, or thereafter for thesis or project course
• Enrollment in no other courses
• Completion of all degree requirements other than thesis or project

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In accordance with Academic Senate policy F11-2 (Required Enrollment for Report-in-Progress Units), the F12 semester will mark the start of enforcement of the policy in each fall and spring semester (summer and intersession semesters are exempt). Graduate students with an RP grade in a thesis (299) or project (often 298) course in the S12 or later semester are required to enroll in the 1-unit course, UNVS 290, in each semester until degree completion except in cases in which the department requires repeated enrollment in these classes each semester until completion. There are no class meetings for the course as it is supervisory in nature; however, there will be a fee associated with it of approximately $280. “Stopping out,” or voluntary absence from the university, will not be permitted in the sense that registration will be compulsory for this unit each semester. Failure to register will result in a hold being put on graduation until the unit is retroactively added; a late fee will be associated with the retroactive action. 

The policy applies only to students who are taking no other courses. All degree requirements must have been completed, as once students are converted to “special session eligibility” status, they will not be able to return to regular session status. Should any requirements other than the thesis or project remain, special permission will have to be obtained from the Associate Vice President or Associate Dean of Graduate Studies & Research to return to “non-RP status.” The basis of this stipulation is that, whereas it is conceivable that students are working on theses or projects before completing the remainder of their degree requirements, they should continue to take units in those subjects each semester. Students who have RPs on their records only prior to S12 are not subject to this policy unless they earn another RP in subsequent semesters. In addition, students on university-approved, formal leaves of absence will also be exept from this policy.

The policy included language that allows for a waiver of UNVS 290 enrollment if the student can document a lack of reasonable attention or guidance by the thesis or project supervisor. If the student has been prevented from making satisfactory progress toward completion of the culminating experience by the advisor, the case can be presented in writing to the Associate Dean of GS&S.

Registration for the 1-unit UNVS 290 course must be delayed until students are given the opportunity to enroll in other courses. If a student has the RP and does not enroll in other courses, he or she will be able to register for UNVS 290. He or she will have until the end of course instruction that semester to register for the course. Registration will be online through MySJSU (a change as of September 12, 2012). In each subsequent fall and winter semester, the student will have to register for this course and will be precluded from registering for any other. The RP grade in the project or thesis course remains on the official record until a culminating memo is submitted by the graduate advisor to the Office of Graduate Admissions & Program Evaluations (GAPE), the course instructor in which the RP was received has petitioned for a grade change, and the student has submitted a current Application for Award of Master's Degree form to GAPE.