1. What are foundation courses?

Within each curriculum, students may be required to complete foundation courses prior to beginning graduate coursework. These courses are necessary to provide graduate students knowledge that will be further developed in future graduate coursework at Philadelphia University. Foundation course requirements will vary according to a student’s undergraduate major. Each student will be advised by their program director regarding required foundation courses.

2. May I transfer credits from another institution?

A maximum of six credits may be transferred from another accredited graduate program to a student’s current graduate program of study at Philadelphia University. However, transfer of credit will not be accepted if the grade earned at another institution was less than a “B” or equivalent (e.g., 3.0 on a scale of 1 to 4). Most importantly, transfer of a credit is subject to the approval of a student’s program director and students are require to prepare and submit sufficient course outlines, description, texts, and any other material that may be helpful in properly evaluating the course to be transferred.

3. May a course be waived?

If a student has experience in a specific area covered by a course, or has studied the information elsewhere, the student may request to take a waiver examination instead of taking the respective course at Philadelphia University. Credits earned via the waiver examination are not considered transfer credits  and the student is responsible for the fee of taking the examination which is equivalent to one credit hour of the current graduate tuition.

4. What are the requirements for graduation?

Prior to being certified for graduation, a student must fulfill the credit hour requirements for the specific graduate program in which they are enrolled. In addition, the student must have at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average in their graduate courses, no more than two course grades below a “B-“ (including foundation courses in some programs), and no “F” grades in the current program of study. In programs that require a thesis, students must also complete all the thesis requirements to be certified for graduation.

5. Are Graduate assistantships available?

Graduate university assistantships are available to qualified incoming graduate students. However, if additional positions are available, current graduate students are eligible to apply. Due to the competitiveness, assistantships are only awarded to students who are enrolled full-time. Additional qualifications and requirements include satisfactory test scores and recommendations. In exchange for working 20 hours per week fulfilling the assistantship duties, recipients receive tuition remission for nine credit hours in the fall an spring and a monthly stipend. Please file your application for an assistantship at the same time you are applying for the program. Application forms are available on the Home page of this site.

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