Good Academic Standing

Meet Department standards including a satisfactory spring evaluation
Maintain a GPA of 3.0 in upper-division and graduate course work
Must not have accumulated more than a total of eight units of F and/or U grades overall

Support Time Limits

Students must be within the time limits for graduate student financial support (employment, fellowship, etc.). Graduate students may receive financial support through the quarter break following their PCTL or SUTL expiration. Graduate students should not be extended in UCPath beyond the quarter break following their PCTL or SUTL expiration. Once the student has advanced to candidacy, or the support time limit has been extended (The procedure to request support time limit extensions can be found here), you may extend their employment. The Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs maintains online pre-candidacy and support time limit notices for students with time limits expiring this spring and upcoming academic year. Please be sure to review these time limit notices before processing or approving employment for a graduate student. You many view a complete time limit report on the Student Database, under the Reports tab.

Ph.D./D.M.A. Degree aim: Every student has two time limits and a TA/Associate limit affecting employment/support eligibility: The pre-candidacy time limit (PCTL), the support time limit (SUTL), and the 18 quarter limit. The “expiration date” is defined as the last day of the quarter. (For a Spring PCTL/SUTL expiration, a student is eligible for employment in the summer, up until the day before the start of Fall quarter. Reminder for International students, their I-20 and visa paperwork overrides academic support time limits.)
- PCTL: A student must advance to candidacy prior to the expiration of the pre-candidacy time limit. If a student does not meet this requirement, the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs Academic Affairs Unit puts a “hold” on the student’s record preventing further enrollment and registration. When a PCTL expires and the student has not advanced to doctoral candidacy, the student is not eligible for employment beyond the quarter break following the PCTL expiration date.
- SUTL: The support time limit identifies the quarter through which a graduate student may receive any payment from university funds (on-campus employment, fellowship, etc.). When a SUTL expires, the student is not eligible for employment beyond the quarter break following the SUTL expiration date.
- 18 Quarter Limit: A student may not be employed as a Teaching Assistant (TA) and/or Associate for more than 18 quarters. Summer TA and/or Associate employments do not count towards the 18 quarter limit. Please note this is a separate and distinct limit, and any extension granted to SUTLs does not apply to the 18 quarter TA/Associate limit.
  - 18-Quarter Teaching Limit Extension: 3-quarter extension permissible for students matriculated in COVID-impacted quarters. Effective AY 2023-24, an approved Employment Exception to Policy is required for employment to exceed 18-quarters as a TA/Associate.
M.A., M.Eng., and M.S. degree aim: Eligible for 7 quarters of employment or other support.
M.F.A. and M.P.I.A. degree aim: Eligible for 10 quarters of employment or other support.

Language Skills

International graduate students who are non-native speakers of English must be certified as having requisite language skills before they can serve as Teaching Assistants. This English language policy does not apply to a student who serves as a TA which is conducted in his/her native language. For further information, contact the English Language Program for International Instructors (ELP-ii).

Departments with students who have tested out of TOEFL or who they feel otherwise meet the requisite language requirements, can submit an exception request for the student to serve as a Teaching Assistant.

Chapter 1: Academic Eligibility

Basic Qualifications for Employment Eligibility

Eligibility Topics