Students may withdraw from the Ph.D. program at any time. It is a courtesy for students to inform the advisor/chair of the supervisory committee of such intent.
Students who fail to register for credits for two consecutive academic terms (Fall, Spring) will be considered inactive; these students must reactivate their status with the Office of Graduate Studies in order to resume academic work and register for credits. Students may not receive graduate fellowships or assistantships when inactive.
Ph.D. students in SECD are held to the same standards of academic integrity and behavior as all other students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Information about student conduct is available in the UNL Student Code of Conduct.
Students enrolled in the Ph.D. program in SECD are expected to maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA, annually. Letter grades below B will not be accepted for the degree; students are permitted to retake such courses once to raise the grade/GPA. Failure to meet these standards may be cause for termination, as determined by the student's Supervisory Committee and the SECD Executive Graduate Governance Committee.
Furthermore, Ph.D. students who receive two grades of XPs for Incompletes with Inadequate Progress for dissertation credits (SLPA/SPED 999) may be terminated, as determined by the Supervisory Committee and the SECD Executive Graduate Governance Committee.
Students terminated from the program may not reapply to a Ph.D. program in SECD at a later date. The credits earned to-date remain on the transcript, and the students can apply to another program in or out of the University of Nebraska.
| Doctoral Degree Programs | Initial concerns identified | Development of remediation plan | Evaluation of remediation progress | Graduate Governance recommendation | Graduate Chair recommendation | College-level determination |
| Ph.D. | Executive Grad Governance annual review (and/or mentor and/or supervisory committee if issues between annual reviews) | Executive GG may design a remediation plan and/or meet with student (and mentor) to design a plan | Supervisory committee and/or Executive GG evaluate whether student has met remediation criteria | Executive GG meets, discusses, sends rec letter to Grad Chair | Grad Chair invites student to appeal (up to 30 days), reviews all materials, sends rec letter to Grad Dean | OGS Dean invites student to appeal (up to 30 days), reviews all materials, makes final determination and sends letter to student |