4.3 Graduate Residency

With the exception of fieldwork and other department-approved offsite activity, enrolled graduate students must maintain a significant physical presence on campus throughout each quarter a student is enrolled.

Only completed course units are counted toward the residency requirement. Courses with missing, incomplete, in progress, or failing grades do not count toward the residency requirement. Courses from which a student has formally withdrawn do not count toward the residency requirement. Terminal Graduate Registration (TGR) is available to graduate students who have met all of the conditions listed in the Special Registration Statuses for Graduate Students policy page.

Graduate Residency: Units Toward Individual Degrees

The minimum unit requirement for a degree represents a combination of enrolled coursework, research units, and final projects including thesis or dissertation, as appropriate for a given program. Degree-granting departments may establish unit requirements that are higher than the minimum university residency requirement, in which case the department requirement supersedes the University minimum. Departments may not set a minimum residency requirement for a degree lower than the established University minimum. The School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Business may also mandate internal quarter-based residency requirements based on the number of quarters of full-time registration in which students are enrolled to earn a degree. In this case, the student must meet both the school residency requirement and the University minimum unit requirement for their degree.

University Minimum Residency Requirements for Single Advanced Degrees

Note: Students eligible for Veterans Affairs educational benefits should refer to the Veterans Benefits section of "Admissions and Financial Aid" in this bulletin. For MS-PAS, 6 units must be in an area of scholarly concentration

Graduate Residency: Units Toward Multiple Degrees

It is Stanford’s general policy that graduate units are applicable toward only one advanced degree, and may not be duplicated or double-counted toward the residency requirement for multiple degrees. This is non-negotiable, except for the following exceptions:

• Up to 45 units of a Stanford MA or MS degree may be applied to the residency requirement for the PhD, DMA, or Engineer degrees.

• Joint Degree Programs, each of which has a unique combined residency requirement and pre-established rules for credit re-use, per review by the Committee on Graduate Studies.

  • Students pursuing a joint degree which includes a PhD may not also count a Stanford master’s degree or transfer units towards residency for the PhD degree.  See Joint Degree Programs policy page for more details.

University Minimum Residency Requirements for Graduate Degree Combinations

Students with multiple degree programs must complete the residency requirements for all their degree types. Students enrolled in a joint degree program should see this Joint Degree Programs policy page.

** Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) students should refer to the CEE program page in the Stanford Bulletin for additional residency information.

Evaluation of Credit for Students Receiving VA Educational Benefits

Liaison among the university, its students, and the various federal, state, and local agencies concerned with veterans’ educational benefits is provided by the Office of the University Registrar. All students eligible to receive veterans’ educational benefits while attending the university are urged to complete arrangements with the appropriate agency well in advance of enrollment. In addition, students are required to have their degree program approve their study lists as meeting graduation requirements before the Office of the University Registrar can certify the courses for Veterans Affairs.

Subject to current federal and university guidelines, students eligible for receipt of VA educational benefits have their prior education and training evaluated up to the credit limits outlined in this Residency policy. As an exception to this policy, students in master’s programs in the Schools of Earth Sciences, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Sciences, Law, Medicine, and Graduate School of Business are allowed a maximum of 6 transfer (quarter) units.

Students and departmental staff may refer to the informational website for university minimum residency requirements opens in a new tab. A student should work closely with their degree program advisors to ensure all residency requirements are understood and achievable.