The Graduate School offers students a variety of housing opportunities through the Graduate Housing Office and the Off-Campus Housing Office. One new housing initiative is an expansion to the Lease Guaranty Program. Under this Program, the University will guarantee the full contract of rent to landlords who rent to MacCracken Fellows in order to induce landlords to rent to these students. 

The Office of Housing and Residence Life is at 726 Broadway, 7th floor and can be reached by phone at

212-998-4600. The Off-Campus Housing Office is located at the Student Resource Center at 60 Washington Square South and can be reached by phone at 212-998-4620. Newly admitted students interested in housing should request a housing application from GSAS Enrollment Services Office. Applications and the most recent information on graduate student housing can be found at

http://www.nyu.edu/housing and https://gsas.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/gsas/admissions/financial-aid/general-graduate-housing-information.html 

First-year doctoral students in GSAS have access to a special housing option available through the MacCracken Housing Program (MHP) to live in furnished two bedroom apartments in Stuyvesant Town. Further information available at <https://gsas.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/gsas/admissions/financial-aid/maccracken-housing-program-for-doctoral-students.html>

For students securing housing on their own, the Graduate Administrative Aide can provide a letter of verification of enrollment and/or funding on request.

To register for classes, students use Albert: Student Information System http://www.albert.nyu.edu

The French Department requires all first-year students to meet with the DGS and the First-Year advisor prior to registering for classes. All other students should speak with their advisors before registering.

Maintenance of matriculation (MM) means that after a student’s coursework is completed, he or she must maintain continuous enrollment until receiving his or her degree. Payment of the maintenance of matriculation fee entitles students to use the libraries, the Student Health Center, and other research facilities, consult faculty members, and participate in University activities. 

All MacCracken Fellows are granted two years of automatic registration for MM and waivers for the registration and insurance fees upon completion of the five year MacCracken Fellowship. GSAS will register students on waivers. 

After those two years, students must register themselves for MM and pay all associated fees. The MM fee is $489 plus $500 in registration fees for Fall 2017, exclusive of health insurance fees; these registration fees are about $90 higher for international students and registration fees go up every semester. To register for maintenance of matriculation, students use Albert with the code MAINT-GA 4747. Master’s students will register for section 001; PhD candidates for 004. Students who are not on MM waivers should register for maintenance of matriculation within the current registration period. If this is done in arrears, students will have to be manually activated to register for the following semester (contact the Graduate Aide if this should occur). 

Students registering for less than 12 points (i.e. three courses) per semester may obtain fulltime equivalency with permission from the Director of Graduate Studies. Once approval has been granted, the student should inform the Graduate Aide, who will register the full-time status. Students maintaining matriculation who wish to obtain fulltime equivalency should confirm their full-time status with the Graduate Aide. For visa reasons, international students should be particularly vigilant about maintaining full-time status at all times.

In consultation with the DGS, students who have successfully completed graduate course work at other institutions may be eligible to transfer credit toward their coursework requirements. This is normally completed before the start of the second year of enrollment and after the first-year review in April. Credit is transferred point for point between US institutions; credit equivalencies for overseas universities are determined by Graduate Enrollment Services.

The maximum number of credits that can be transferred is 40, but any transfer, on whatever scale, must be discussed with the Director of Graduate Studies for approval. MacCracken funding will not be affected by transferring credits.  

A student who has not maintained a B average, who has not successfully completed at least two thirds of points attempted at NYU (excluding the current semester), or who has not fulfilled a specific degree requirement within the appropriate time frame (see section I. “Time Limits for Degrees” below) will be placed on academic probation. Students placed on academic probation are required to meet with the Director of Graduate Studies to work out a plan for correcting their standing. Students will not be eligible to receive funding or register for courses until they have registered this plan with the Department and with the Vice Dean’s Office. 

If the circumstances of the probation have not been corrected within one year of the institution of probationary status or within the timeline proposed in their plan, the student is subject to dismissal by the Department Chair.

A student who is obliged to withdraw temporarily for national service, serious illness, or compelling personal reasons may request a leave of absence. 

If granted, students on leave are assured of readmission at the end of the leave. The period of an approved academic leave of absence does not count toward time to candidacy or time to degree. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) grants a leave of absence for up to one year. Note that students are not eligible for funding or insurance waivers while they are on leave of absence.

A student who wishes to request a leave of absence must submit either a written statement to the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair explaining the "compelling personal reasons," a doctor's recommendation in the event of serious illness, or evidence of national service. If the department approves the request, a Leave of Absence Request form, accompanied by the student's GSAS transcript and the documentation received from the student, is then sent by the department to the Dean.

When a foreign student on a J-1 or F-1 visa takes a leave of absence, or leaves the U.S. for an extended period of time, the Office of Global Services should be notified immediately.

A student who has matriculated into the graduate school but then fails to register for three semesters must apply for readmission and pay an application fee. This applies to both those students previously maintaining matriculation by fee as well as to those taking courses.

Students who have completed all course work and are readmitted are responsible for the maintenance of matriculation fees for the intervening years. The time to degree for a readmitted student begins with the original semester of admission.

A candidate for the PhD degree who enters the department with a BA degree should ideally complete all requirements for the degree within seven years of their initial registration at New York University; the absolute maximum time set by GSAS for completion of all PhD requirements is ten years. 

A candidate for the PhD degree who enters the department with an MA degree for which transfer credit is given towards the PhD should complete all requirements for the degree within six years; the absolute maximum time set by GSAS for completion of all requirements for students entering with an earned MA degree is seven years. 

GSAS allows a maximum of five years for all MA candidates to complete all requirements for their degree, whether enrolled full- or part-time. 

Students in violation of time-to-degree are placed on academic probation and a plan of completion should be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies. When the plan is approved, the Department will apply for an extension from the Graduate School. Students are expected to maintain progress as outlined in their plan for completion; failure to complete the milestones on the plan will result in termination from the program. 

Note: NYU refers to all degree conferral as “Graduation”. This is the case whether the degree is terminal or not.  

Students must "apply to graduate" to be conferred any degree, including non-terminal M.A. and M.Phil  degrees. Students will be automatically registered by the department for the non-terminal M.Phil degree. The application period for a given graduation date is generally open 3 – 5 months prior to the graduation date. 

There are three graduation dates/periods per year:

1.     September, for those who complete requirements mid-May through mid-September (Summer semester); 

2.     January, for those who complete requirements mid-September through mid-January (Fall semester); and 

3.     May, for those who complete requirements mid-January through early May (Spring semester). 

There is only one official ceremony (Commencement) in May, but students who graduated the previous September or January may participate.

Students become eligible for the degree of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) when they have completed

1.      72 points of coursework, with at least 32 points earned in residency at NYU; and

2.      passed both written and oral qualifying exams

3.      for students in French Literature, fulfilled the second foreign language requirement; See Section III.1.D. “Language Requirements”

Students become eligible for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) when then have completed:

1.      All requirements for the MPhil (above) and

2.      Successful defense and deposit of the dissertation

Note that at least one year must lapse between conferral of degrees, this is waived for the MPhil to PhD degrees.

Failure to meet a September or January graduation deadline will require the Maintenance of

Matriculation by fee for an additional semester. However, if the May graduation deadline is missed, no additional fee is required to file for a degree in September (as students do not need to maintain matriculation over the summer).

Note: Defending students should check with the GSAS Office of Academic and Student Affairs website to make themselves familiar with all forms and deadlines required.  <http://gsas.nyu.edu/academics/submitting-your-dissertation.html>

For all students preparing to defend a dissertation, there are two administrative deadlines of which to be aware: 

1.PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION DEPOSIT (generally occurs 7 – 8 weeks prior to the graduation date).

This deposit includes:

    Online to ProQuest

A. An initial deposit of the dissertation. This is so that GSAS Office of Academic and Student Affairs (OASA) to check that formatting standards are being met. The document need not be in its final form for this deposit. The student will be informed via email of any changes to formatting that must be completed by final deposit of the document.

B. Payment of the Dissertation Filing Fee to ProQuest.

    To the Office of Academic and Student Affairs

C. One copy of the title page, not signed.

D. The Abstract Approval Form, which must be signed by the dissertation director, and two copies of the abstract. If the dissertation is written in French, the student should present the abstract in both English and French.

E.  Doctoral Dissertation Agreement Form for publishing the dissertation with ProQuest/UMI

F. GSAS Doctoral Survey G. Survey of Earned Doctorates

Note that this deposit includes electronic filing with ProQuest and in-person delivery of some items to GSAS OASA. 

2.FINAL DISSERTATION DEPOSIT (occurs one week prior to the graduation date).

This deposit includes:

    Online to ProQuest

A.The final dissertation, approved by the committee following oral defense and with any revisions required by the dissertation committee. NOTE that students are strongly advised to impose an embargo on publication of the dissertation by ProQuest.

    To the Office of Academic and Student Affairs

B. The Advisor’s Final Approval Form, signed at the defense if possible and delivered to OASA

C. A signed Title Page, signed at the defense if possible and delivered to OASA

    To Graduation Services

D. Doctoral Thesis Oral Defense Form and Dissertation Reader Sheets, to be supplied and submitted by the department.

E. Outside Reader Sheets, if applicable, to be supplied and submitted by the department. 

The candidate should contact the NYU Office of the Bursar to confirm that his/her account is not in arrears. Each candidate should review his/her permanent address on the Student Information System (SIS). Diplomas will be mailed to this address. 

It is the responsibility of graduate students to know the deadlines for submission of any necessary forms required for graduation. Exact deadlines are posted on the Office of Academic and Student Affairs website <http://gsas.nyu.edu/academics/submitting-your-dissertation.html>. 

Students can contact the Office of Academic and Student Affairs at 6 Washington Square North, floor 2, or by phone at 212-998-8060 for more information.