The Graduate School approves temporary suspension of admissions for graduate degree programs, graduate certificates, and graduate degree options that offer direct admissions. Process details are available at Guidelines for Suspending Admissions. Any suspension must be designed to fully accommodate the curriculum, advising, and support for currently enrolled and admitted students.
Suspension of admissions should be used to address program needs. Examples of reasons to suspend admissions include the following (not an exhaustive list):
- over-enrollment or under-enrollment
- curricular re-design
- temporary financial pressures
- faculty hiring/staffing issues
- re-assessment of the purpose and goals of the program
- long-term structural issues
- changes required by an accrediting body
Suspension of admissions must not be used as a substitute for formal program termination. Any consideration of permanent program or option termination must adhere to the Guidelines for Terminating a Graduate Program or Program Option.
Programs offering regular admission at intervals longer than a year (i.e., every other year or longer) do not need to suspend admissions for non-admission years.
1.9.1 Duration of Suspension of Admissions
Admissions may be suspended for one or two academic years to allow for planning and to ensure long-term success of the program.
1.9.2 Authorization of Suspension of Admissions
In most cases, suspension of admissions is initiated when the graduate faculty of the academic unit offering the graduate program vote to suspend admissions to a graduate program or program option. After a vote of the faculty, the unit must communicate outcomes with the college/school dean or (E)VCAA and must follow any process required by the college/school or campus.
In exceptional cases, one of the following alternative mechanisms may be used to authorize suspension of admissions to a graduate program or program option.
- The dean or (E)VCAA of the school, college, or campus where a program is located may petition the Dean of the Graduate School to suspend admissions to a graduate program or program option. The Dean of the Graduate School will consider this request in consultation with the Graduate School Council. Program suspension in this case requires a supporting quorum majority vote of the Graduate School Council.
- The Dean of the Graduate School may suspend admissions to a graduate program or program option after consultation with the college/school dean or (E)VCAA and following a supporting quorum majority vote by the Graduate School Council.
Examples of appropriate use of these two alternative mechanisms are: the fundamental violation of a program’s obligations to its students; the inability of a program to maintain essential institutional standards; a loss of program accreditation; or a critical lack of alignment between the delivery of a program and its approved academic structure.
1.9.3 Process Timeline
If applications to a program have been received, admissions to that program will not be suspended for that admissions cycle.
A suspension of admissions request should be initiated far enough in advance for the Graduate School and other administrative units to act early in the application cycle. This includes opportunity for review and approval of the request by the Graduate School, including possible consultation with the Graduate School Council, and ample time for implementation.
Once approved, the graduate program is responsible for placing a notice of suspended admissions on its website and in any other program materials. Towards the end of the suspension, the program must notify the Graduate School of its intent to reopen admissions and describe changes that have been implemented to allow for sustained delivery of a quality graduate program. If the program is not ready to open admissions, the program should initiate program termination.
Policy 1.9 created: May 2022
revised for clarity: May 2025