1 Overview of Accelerated Graduate Degree Programs and

Overview of Accelerated Graduate Degree Programs and Proposal Process

The expectation of the Provost’s Office is that accelerated programs should be created for high-

achieving and high-quality students with the ability to complete a bachelor’s and a master’s at an

accelerated pace. Students being considered for an accelerated graduate program must have a

cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 or greater and have completed at least 90 hours, which includes all

general education and academic program requirements. Programs cannot consider, nor admit

students with a lower GPA or fewer than 90 credit hours; however, individual programs can set

these eligibility requirements at a higher level (e.g., 3.8 cumulative GPA; 105 credit hours).

Programs can also have additional requirements, such as being an Honor’s student or the

completion of an internship prior to admission. Once a student has completed 90 credit hours, they

will be admitted as provisional graduate students to accelerated graduate degree programs.

Students may pursue only one accelerated master's degree; enrollment in more than one

accelerated program is not an option.

Students can take up to 15 hours of credit that will count toward both the undergraduate and the

graduate degrees (shared credits). As a provisional graduate student, the student will be charged at

the undergraduate rate for their coursework. Once students obtain 120 hours, the bachelor’s

degree will be conferred and they will become graduate students, which gives them the rights and

responsibilities of all graduate students at the University of Missouri. At this point, students will be

charged at the graduate rate for their coursework. Students are required to be enrolled as full-time

graduate students at MU for a minimum of one academic year and a minimum of 18 graduate

credits must be obtained after the bachelor’s degree is conferred.

Once a student’s status changes from undergraduate to graduate, they will no longer be eligible for

undergraduate aid and tuition rates, but will be eligible for graduate aid and assistantships.

Students entering these programs must be aware of this issue and will be required to sign an

agreement, indicating that they understand these implications. The agreement form is built into the

online application process for accelerated applicants.

Accelerated programs must be based upon existing graduate degree programs. If all courses

required for the accelerated program do not exist, a Course Proposal Form must be completed for

each new course. This electronic form can be located on the Office of the Registrar’s website. New

resources should not be required unless there is a significant increase in the number of students.

Instructions. Accelerated program proposals should be submitted through the CIM Programs

change process. Click here for the template for the proposal. At a minimum, an accelerated

graduate degree program proposal should contain the information outlined in the template.

Additional information that strengthens the case for the program may be added. When you save

the final proposal document, please delete all embedded instructions prior to attaching it to a

CIM Programs change proposal.

Proposal Preparation and the Approval Process. When an academic program begins

discussions about offering an accelerated graduate program, they should contact Graduate School

for guidance on the overall process. Graduate School will first determine if the planned accelerated

program is an internal program, or if it is being developed as an accelerated program with another

university (external). If it is an external program, rather than completing an Accelerated Graduate

Degree Proposal, the academic program must complete a memorandum of understanding with the

cooperating university.

Once the program completes their proposal, the proposal should be attached to a CIM Programs

change proposal. The proposal will be reviewed through the online workflow process, similar to

the course approval process. When the proposal is ready for review by the Graduate Faculty Senate,

representatives from the program will be invited to a GFS meeting to discuss the proposal. After

review, the GFS can take one of three action steps:

1. Approve and forward to the Dean of the Graduate School and then the Provost’s Office for

final review.

2. Request the program revise and resubmit their proposal based on specific feedback from

the GFS.

3. Conclude that the proposed accelerated graduate program should not be approved.

If the proposal is forwarded to the Provost’s Office, it will be reviewed to determine if it fits the

overall mission of the University and either approved or denied. The Provost’s Office also has the

authority to request additional information during the review. Programs will be notified of the

decision by the Provost’s Office.

If approved, programs are then free to advertise and recruit for their accelerated program.

Programs will be expected to track pre-determined outcomes identified in their proposal (see

section 3.C of the proposal template). Finally, the accelerated graduate program will be reviewed as

an independent program via the Program Assessment process, which occurs approximately every 5

years.