Cross Divisional Registration

Graduate Student/Undergraduate Courses

Undergraduate courses may be taken by graduate students as appropriate prerequisites to their chosen field of study but may not be used to satisfy graduate program requirements or carry graduate credit. Exceptions are possible for some 400-level courses subject to approval in advance by the Graduate School. In order to obtain approval, the student must file a Graduate Student Petition Form which must include:

  • justification for taking an undergraduate course for graduate credit. (For example: that the course curriculum is important to the student’s program and not offered in a graduate course.)
  • the signature of the course instructor, who must be a UB tenured or tenure-track faculty member, with a brief description of the nature and extent of the extra work to be assigned graduate students.
  • the signature of the department chair or director of graduate studies of the student’s graduate program.

A student may file a maximum of two petitions for up to six credits of this nature while pursuing a graduate degree. All such petitions must be filed prior to the end of the official add/drop period of the semester of registration. The student must officially register for the course during the designated registration period.

Undergraduate Students/Graduate Courses

Upper division undergraduate students can be exceptionally registered into graduate level courses by an academic department with permission of the course instructor. Graduate credit will be given for the course unless the student petitions the course for undergraduate credit through the department. A graduate level course applied toward an undergraduate degree cannot also be applied toward a graduate degree.

Limits on Undergraduate Enrollment in Graduate Courses Policy

Prior to receipt of his/her baccalaureate degree, a UB undergraduate student may not register for more than a total of two graduate level courses (in total not to exceed 8 credit hours) during their undergraduate career at UB. In order to exercise this option, the student must have the permission of the department offering the graduate course(s); junior or senior standing; and possess a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 at the time of graduate course enrollment. Note that the graduate credit hour limit described above does not apply to students formally admitted to, and currently enrolled in, an SED-registered combined undergraduate/graduate (multi-award) degree program at UB, providing that the graduate courses taken are part of that student’s specific combined degree program curriculum and are taken in the proper sequence defined for that curriculum.

It is also important to note that any graduate level courses successfully petitioned for use at the undergraduate level are not included in the 8 total credit hour limit described in the previous paragraph. However, once applied to an undergraduate degree through petition, such graduate courses may not be later applied to any post-baccalaureate degree program at UB.