3341-3-66. Accelerated bachelor's to master's program-graduate

(A) Policy statement and purpose

The graduate college at Bowling Green state university has several graduate programs that permit qualified undergraduate students who are earning their bachelor's degree at BGSU to apply to an accelerated bachelor's to master's program. Participating in an accelerated bachelor's to master's program provides students with the opportunity to complete both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in an efficient manner. Not all master's degree programs participate in the accelerated bachelor's to master's program.

These policies pertain to students who wish to officially work toward both a bachelor's degree and master's degree at BGSU simultaneously. Students who wish to take graduate level courses during their senior year but not officially enroll in a master's degree program may apply to do so by earning advanced undergraduate status (AUS). AUS guidelines can be found on the graduate college website documents and forms.

(B) Policy

(1) Admissions requirements

Students interested in pursuing an accelerated bachelor's to master's program should see program specific websites for additional guidelines and expectations. In addition to any program-specific requirements, the following graduate college policies apply to all programs.

An application to an accelerated bachelor's to master's program requires the applicant to demonstrate their preparation with the following:

(a) By the start of accelerated status, either:

(i) Seventy-five credit hours earned and an overall BGSU GPA of at least three point twenty two, or

For the purposes of this policy, BGSU GPA is calculated based on BGSU credits only. However, credits transferred into BGSU may be counted as part of credit hours earned (not GPA).

(ii) Ninety credit hours earned and an overall BGSU GPA of at least three point zero;

(b) A completed accelerated bachelor's to master's program application;

(c) Official transcripts from all universities attended;

(d) At least one letter of recommendation from a full-time BGSU faculty member, from graduate faculty within the student's major or targeted graduate program;

(e) Completion of any other program-specific graduate application requirements (see desired program website).

(2) Student status

Once accepted into an accelerated bachelor's to master's program, the student remains coded as an undergraduate student with accelerated status and officially becomes coded as a graduate student once the student has earned the bachelor's degree. The student's coding as an undergraduate or graduate student is associated with other BGSU policies pertaining to degree status.

(3) Credit hour policies

The following policies apply to students in all accelerated bachelor's to master's programs. Applicants should check individual program websites for any additional policies pertaining to that particular program.

(a) After being accepted into an accelerated bachelor's to master's program, students may take up to nine credit hours of graduate credit while maintaining undergraduate status.

(b) A maximum of nine graduate credit hours may be overlapped between both the bachelor's and the master's degrees. These overlapped credits can count toward both the undergraduate and graduate degrees (according to the curriculum of each program).

(c) The total number of graduate hours counted toward the master's degree must be greater than or equal to thirty. Students must meet the minimum required graduate credit hours approved for their program.

(d) The total number of unique hours required for the completed accelerated bachelor's plus master's degree is greater than or equal to one hundred forty-one hours.³

³The state of Ohio normally requires undergraduate bachelor's degrees to have at least one hundred twenty semester hours and master's degrees to have at least thirty hours beyond the bachelor-level. As a result, normally, a student not in an accelerated program is required to have a minimum of one hundred fifty hours for both the bachelor's and master's degrees.

(e) Undergraduate accelerated students may enroll in five thousand and six thousand level graduate classes (not seven thousand).

(f) All graduate policies pertaining to graduate credit hours, time to degree, and other regulations are also applicable to accelerated bachelor's to master's program students.

(4) Tuition

Undergraduate students enrolled in accelerated bachelor's to master's programs will pay tuition at the undergraduate rate for all coursework through the completion of the bachelor's degree. Thereafter, students will be coded as graduate students and pay the graduate rate for tuition and fees.

(5) Financial aid

Students will be eligible for financial aid based on their BGSU student status as either an undergraduate or graduate student. When accelerated students are still in undergraduate status, they remain coded as undergraduate students and may be eligible for financial aid but not graduate assistantships. Once students become regularly admitted graduate students with full graduate student status, they may be eligible for graduate-level financial assistance, including graduate assistantships with stipends and/or graduate tuition scholarships.

(6) Program withdrawal

An undergraduate student admitted to an accelerated bachelor's to master's program may withdraw from the accelerated program and continue as a traditional undergraduate student toward the completion of the bachelor's degree.

(7) Program dismissal

Students who fail to maintain minimum requirements for adequate academic graduate standing will lose accelerated status, and as a result will be unable to continue taking graduate level courses. Under these conditions, if adequate standing is maintained for their undergraduate program, the student may continue in the bachelor's degree program.

Effective: 12/19/2019
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 3345
Rule Amplifies: 3345
Prior Effective Dates: 11/02/2016