This document should be read in conjunction with the Graduate Catalog which lists the general regulations governing graduate study at the University of Florida. Please note that the Graduate School has many detailed rules that are not repeated in this document. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that each requirement in the Graduate Catalog and this document is met. Questions should be directed, in the first instance, to the Graduate Coordinator.

The Graduate Coordinator serves as primary advisor to graduate students until they have formed their supervisory committees and the committee chair becomes the primary advisor. The Graduate Coordinator will assist students in planning each semester's schedule until the supervisory committee is formed. Incoming students are required to participate in a Proseminar offered each fall semester. This non-credit course provides an introduction and overview of the department and the profession. Topics include an overview of faculty research specializations, guidelines for forming a supervisory committee, approaching a career, planning research, securing grant funds, publishing, teaching, and finding a job. A successful graduate career requires that each student take the initiative to meet and discuss her or his interests with individual faculty members, attend research presentations by department faculty, visiting scholars, job candidates, and advanced students, and generally take part in the intellectual life of the department.

Financial aid is available as assistantships and fellowships. Assistantships require students to work a certain number of hours while fellowships require no service to be performed. Both are awarded competitively. The department controls a number of assistantships that require tasks related to the teaching program. Students apply through the Department Chair or Graduate Coordinator for teaching assistantships. Research assistantships are also available, funded by research grants. The grant's principal investigator is responsible for awarding research assistantships. Criminology graduate students are also awarded research or teaching assistantships by other units within the university dependent on the needs of that unit. The Graduate Coordinator can provide information on likely sources of non-departmental assistantship funding. The department does not control any fellowship funds, but the Graduate Coordinator can suggest possible college, university, and other sources of fellowship funds.

Graduate teaching and research assistants are evaluated each year; both initial appointment and renewal are competitive. For continuing students, one criterion for reappointment is the faculty evaluation of performance in previously held assistantships. Another criterion is the student's satisfactory progress in the degree program. Decisions on award and renewal of research assistantships lie with the grant's principal investigator, and for non-departmental assistantships lie with the awarding unit.

Continuation in the program and funding require satisfactory progress in both quality of work and speed in completing the program. Joint programs or fellowships may stipulate more stringent definitions of satisfactory progress than the following, and students must meet those requirements.

Graduate School rules require a B average in all work that is part of the graduate program (i.e. graduate courses and approved undergraduate courses taken outside the department). The department additionally requires a B average in all graduate courses, and the department will accept no grade below B in a required course.

If a student receives less than a B in a required course while maintaining an overall B average, the required course must be repeated. Should a graduate student fall below the required average, either in graduate courses or overall graduate record, the student must overcome the deficiency during the next term to continue in the program. Note that grades of Incomplete count as failing grades after one semester. Hence incomplete courses carried over beyond the next term may lead to termination if they lower the student's average below B.

The Graduate School maintains the following minimum registration requirements for full-time status: graduate students without an assistantship appointment or appointed for .24 FTE or less must enroll for at least 12 hours each semester;. those holding .25-.49 FTE assistantships must enroll for at least nine hours; and those on .50-.74 FTE assistantships must enroll for at least 8 hours. Part-time students must enroll for at least 3 hours. Summer enrollment is optional but may be required by some fellowships and assistantships. The department expects students making satisfactory progress to maintain these registration levels.

The department has additional expectations concerning satisfactory progress. Ideally, students will progress more rapidly than the following guidelines. Under special circumstances such as heavy family responsibilities, students may progress more slowly. Ordinarily, however, students not progressing at the following rates will be considered behind schedule:

Each graduate student must complete an annual report reviewing degree progress, accomplishments in research and teaching, and plans for the coming year. These reports are due during the spring term. The Graduate Committee is responsible for determining the format of the report. The reports will be reviewed by the department faculty as well as the student's supervisory committee.