Course Limits

Each program has been assigned a course limit for the academic year. Doctoral and master’s courses offered at the Graduate Center location, campus-based GC doctoral courses, and CUNY campus master’s courses in which a minimum of 5 or more (12 or more for team-taught) GC matriculated doctoral or master’s students are registered for credit, will count against the program’s limit.
 
Programs are notified before the start of each semester of the deadline date for assessing class enrollments and determining if classes that do not have the minimum enrollment must be cancelled.  Details on each program’s course limit (and units used) appear on the GC Portal:  “EO Reports” under “Instructional and Administrative Activity.” The summary in red at the top of “Instructional and Administrative Activity” uses an asterisk next to “Units Used” to indicate special adjustments have been applied; all such adjustments are included in the summary calculations. Questions and requests for adjustments to the units charged may be directed to Barbara Fish in the Provost’s Office at bfish@gc.cuny.edu.
 
Courses, Independent Study, and Deputy EO units are included in each program’s limit.  Please note that units correspond to workload units for participating GC-based and campus faculty.  The Graduate Center has agreed to translate 1.0 unit as 3.0 hours for the purpose of workload in CUNYfirst. Always excluded from each program’s limit are Dissertation Supervision (90000) and Executive Officer administrative units.
 
A program may cross-list a course “owned” by another program and the course will not count against the cross-listing program’s course limit.  A course “owned” by a program should always appear on the Instructional and Administrative Activity page with units charged to the program, never as zero units. 
 
Doctoral students may register through the Graduate Center for any course offered within CUNY, including campus-based master’s and undergraduate courses.  If a campus-based master’s and undergraduate course not associated with the program appears in error on the program’s EO Reports-Instructional and Administrative Activity page, please email bfish@gc.cuny.edu.
 
Executive Officers are expected to cancel doctoral and master’s courses offered at the Graduate Center and campus-based doctoral courses not offered in combination with campus master’s courses which fail to meet the minimum enrollment requirement of 5 or more Graduate Center matriculated doctoral or masters students enrolled for credit. The minimum enrollment cannot include auditors, non-matriculants and CUNY master’s and undergraduate permits. The Executive Officer is responsible for notifying the Graduate Center Registrar’s Office of course cancellations. If you believe a course must go ahead with fewer than the minimum number of students, send your request by email to provost@gc.cuny.edu as early in advance of the minimum enrollment deadline as possible.
 
Campus-based doctoral courses offered in combination with campus-based master’s courses, and stand-alone master’s courses offered by another CUNY campus in which a program’s students have been permitted to register, will not count against the program’s course limit if 4 or fewer doctoral students are enrolled for credit.  Doctoral students are permitted to occupy up to four seats in these courses without the GC incurring charges.
 
Courses being team-taught by two instructors must have a minimum enrollment of 12 Graduate Center matriculated doctoral or master’s students enrolled for credit (excludes auditors, non-matriculants, and CUNY master’s and undergraduate permits from the colleges).
 
The maximum 1.0 unit earned by faculty who have five or more students registered with them in one-to-one doctoral activity appears on the EO Reports-Instructional and Administrative Activity page distributed proportionally across the faculty member’s Independent Study and Dissertation Supervision sections. The program’s course unit total will not be charged for Independent Study registrations with a faculty member who has already earned a full workload unit from Dissertation Supervision registrations (90000).  Please email bfish@gc.cuny.edu when these situations occur and the charges against the program limit will be adjusted.
 
Executive Officers and Graduate Center faculty who choose to teach in excess of their minimum annual 6-unit workload may teach independent studies and other courses and not have them count toward the program’s course limit. We ask that you notify Barbara Fish in the Provost’s Office about these specific courses and independent studies no later than the first day of classes each semester so credit may be recorded toward your program’s course limit.
 
The request for approval of release for administrative service such as Deputy Executive Officer (DEO) should be made as soon as possible to provost@gc.cuny.edu, but no later than one week prior to the beginning of the academic year.  Program administrative appointments are contingent on the Provost’s approval as well as on the availability of units in the program’s annual course limit.  Approved administrative assignments appear on the EO Reports-Instructional and Administrative Activity page. 

Updated 22 May 2015