Several weeks prior to the beginning of each semester, students who have submitted their plans to enroll and also paid the advance deposit are notified of their segment placement. They are given their seminar and tutorial reading lists, and a list of relevant preceptorial topics to rank in the order of their preference and return to the Graduate Institute Associate Director. Class lists are assembled accordingly and students are notified of their preceptorial placement for the upcoming semester. After tuition and fees have been paid in full, individual class schedules and other information is shared with the student.
Adding, dropping, or changing classes must be approved by the Associate Dean for the Graduate Program. Any student who thinks he or she has difficulties that might be alleviated by changing to another class should speak first to the tutors or students involved, and should attempt to resolve the differences independently. If difficulties persist, the student should then meet with the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, who may then consult with the tutors. Because every effort has been made to ensure balance and variety in devising class lists, transfers from one class to another are discouraged and approved only as a last resort. In the case of seminars and tutorials, permission for transfer may be granted only after the first three weeks of a fall or spring semester or the first two weeks of a summer term. In the case of a preceptorial, however, because their content varies, changes are generally not possible after the first two meetings. Therefore, students considering a request to change to a different preceptorial should consult the Associate Dean as soon as possible, preferably in the first two weeks.
The degrees offered by the Graduate Institute do not need to be completed in consecutive semesters (and often are not), although they must be completed within 8 years of matriculation. When a student in good standing, after having left the College for a semester or more, wishes to return to resume the degree, they simply supply timely notice to the Assistant Director for Graduate Student Services (in Annapolis) or the Graduate Institute Administrator (in Santa Fe), who will enroll the returning student in courses for the upcoming semester. Students not in good standing, or those who have not completed the degree within 8 years, must first petition the Associate Dean on the relevant campus before returning.
Students who wish to change from full-time to part-time enrollment must petition the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs. Full-time enrollment is encouraged for several reasons. Most importantly, the seminar and tutorial readings and class discussions are designed to complement each other; therefore, students taking a seminar or tutorial separately are often at a disadvantage in class discussion. In addition, classmates risk the possibility of missing informative insights shared by students enrolled in only one of the courses. Therefore, students who wish to attend part time should enroll in a preceptorial course and wait until they are able to take the seminar and tutorial classes of a given segment simultaneously. Enrollment priority is given to full-time students. Financial aid is generally not available to part-time students. As a consequence, students who receive financial aid and who are considering part-time enrollment should consult with the Financial Aid Office. Eligibility for health insurance is based on full-time enrollment status, as well. Students are normally expected to have completed both classes in a segment before pursuing the next segment; therefore, a real consequence of part-time status is that some semesters may need to be skipped. It is for these reasons that part-time attendance should be requested by appeal to the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs.
Many Graduate Institute alumni wish to return to the college for their fifth segment, additional preceptorials, or the Master’s Essay. College policy allows Graduate Institute alumni who have graduated to pay half tuition for each course taken as space allows and at the discretion of the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs. Students enrolled in classes under this plan are considered to be regular students of the college. Each course appears on the official transcript as graded, with credit awarded. No financial aid is available for any courses that are pursued after the M.A.L.A. degree requirements have been completed.
Undergraduate alumni from either campus who have earned the St. John’s College Bachelor’s degree may enroll in Annapolis Graduate Institute preceptorial classes as space allows and at the discretion of the Associate Dean, as non-degree seeking Graduate Institute students. Graduate credits and grades will be posted on the Graduate Institute transcript. Tuition cost will be half the cost of one Graduate Institute class. No financial aid is available for any courses that are pursued after the B.A. degree requirements have been completed.
Alumni of both the graduate and undergraduate programs may sometimes audit classes in the Graduate Institute. Auditing is a privilege, not a right, and is allowed by some tutors and not by others. Auditing is always on a “space available” basis after all regularly-enrolled students have been placed in classes, and auditors must commit to read all assignments and attend classes as would a regular student. Auditors who do not fulfill these expectations are likely to lose the privilege of auditing. Auditors are not expected to turn in any written work that may be required for a class, or to sit for a seminar oral.
Alumni may audit any GI class in the MALA programs, with permission from the Associate Dean and the tutor. Requests must be made through the Office of the Graduate Institute before the beginning of the term in which the audit would take place. The Associate Dean will determine whether there is room for auditors in any class, and will consult with tutors whose classes have been requested as audits to determine whether an auditor will be welcomed into any particular class. Audited class(es) will not be reflected on any documents or transcripts and students will not receive credit for the classes. The cost to audit a class, whether on campus or in the low-residency program, is $1100.
Prospective students occasionally audit one or two class meetings. They are counseled not to participate in class discussions nor to sit at the discussion table. More extensive auditing by prospective students is prohibited.
On rare occasions, the Associate Dean and the Graduate Institute Committee may require a student to repeat a class as a condition for continuing study in the program. In the event that a student is required to repeat a class, that fact, along with the grade for the repeated class, will be noted on the transcript, but the student will not be awarded more than three credits for the class. The grade for the repeated class is the one used by the Registrar to compute grade point average.
