Undergraduate students enrolling in graduate courses

Requirements for undergraduate credentials may include graduate courses as requirements. In those instances, undergraduate students may enroll for Messiah graduate courses if they have senior status by credits.

Undergraduate students maintain undergraduate status, and are subject to all undergraduate academic and student policies. The graduate courses will appear on the undergraduate transcript, and the graduate course grade is calculated within the undergraduate GPA. 

Students are assessed undergraduate tuition and fees for graduate courses, based on their student status of part-time or full-time during the fall and spring terms. 

  • Undergraduate traditional students may take no more than 18 credits total within the undergraduate billing rate (e.g. undergraduate credits + graduate credits equal or less than 18 total credits.
  • Traditional UG students who take more than 18 total credits are billed at the undergraduate overload rate.

Summer session. Undergraduate seniors (who have not completed a degree) eligible for a summer graduate class (prior to their senior year) are billed the graduate tuition rate.

Note: Students are eligible for undergraduate financial aid and scholarships. This eligibility ends when the student earns the undergraduate degree.

Undergraduate credit can be leveraged toward Messiah graduate credentials. Students may be able to utilize the graduate-level credits used to fulfill the undergraduate credential to also meet the requirements of a Messiah University graduate credential. In all cases, students need to complete a minimum of an additional 30 unique graduate-level credits for a master's degree or 60 unique graduate-level credits for a doctoral degree.

Undergraduate students with senior status may also enroll in graduate courses for enrichment if they have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher. Students must apply and be accepted as a non-degree seeking student in the graduate program if the graduate program allows undergraduate enrichment enrollment. If accepted, student complete and submit the course enrollment form. After consulting with their advisor, students indicated if the course will be applied to their graduate or undergraduate transcript. Approval by the graduate program director depends upon availability of seats in the graduate course and the advisor and chair's completed enrollment form. Students can earn a total of 9 graduate credits within the structure of undergraduate tuition and fees.