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Graduate Course Substitution Policy

Under limited circumstances the Graduate College at NSU recognizes that it may be necessary for an advisor to recommend a substitution for a required course in a program's degree plan. In those instances the request for substitution must ultimately be approved by the Graduate Dean.

In order to reduce the number of course substitutions requested, as well as to insure that these substitutions be realistic, the following policy will apply:

1. The student must receive approval for the substitution from his/her graduate advisor.
2. In a timely fashion the advisor will meet with a committee internally designated to deal with course substitutions for that particular graduate program. The committee might be a standing committee that is willing to approach the issue or a committee specifically selected for this purpose.
3. The committee will determine whether or not the proposed substitution is appropriate in terms of a) course equivalency, and b) necessity. While the graduate college recognizes that not all decisions of this nature should be exclusively formulaic, the following are examples of acceptable reasons for approving course substitutions:
   1. A change in course offerings;
   2. An error in academic advising;
   3. Unavoidable interruptions in the student's progress toward the degree (e.g., military service or a prolonged illness);
   4. Lack of timely course availability;
   5. The student has appropriate competencies that justify waiving a particular course requirement (e.g., it may be determined unnecessary to require writing proficiency of a student who has won awards in journalism).

Requests for course substitutions should only be approved in cases where the student could realistically expect to obtain similar course content. Please note that course substitutions should not be approved as a matter of convenience.

If the committee approves the request for course substitution, it should be forwarded with rationale to the Graduate Dean for final dispensation.

Download the Request for Course Substitution (pdf) form.