Nondegree Students
A small number of special students are not regularly enrolled degree candidates. These are limited to the categories and specific purposes stated below.
Program in Continuing Education. The continuing education program admits qualified area residents and members of the University community to regularly scheduled undergraduate and graduate courses. Admission into continuing education does not admit an applicant to a Princeton University degree program. Individuals seek entrance for a variety of reasons: to prepare for graduate or professional school, often in a field different from their undergraduate major; to change a career or to catch up with recent developments in their current occupation; or to satisfy a personal intellectual interest.
Admission to the program is selective, based on the applicant’s academic and nonacademic experience and the intended plan of study. Continuing education students participate fully in classes and receive transcripts of grades. Further information is available from the Office of Continuing Education.
Princeton University/New Jersey Community Colleges Partnership Program. Designed to enhance staff development at 13 New Jersey community colleges, this program encourages professional growth by renewing and expanding the contact of community college teachers and administrators with developments in their own or new fields. Admission is selective, and an applicant should have at least five years’ experience as a full-time teacher or administrator in a community college. There are two application deadlines, one in early November and one in early March, and applicants are notified of admission for the following academic year shortly after each application deadline. Further information and applications may be obtained by writing to the Mid-Career Fellowship Program, Dr. Linda Hodges, the McGraw Center, 328 Frist Campus Center, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
Qualifying Student. A qualifying student is admitted for one year as a probationary graduate student. Grounds for admission, as a qualifying student, are either an undergraduate program of study that does not qualify the candidate for full admission in the field applied to, or formal education that has been interrupted for a significant period of time. Applicants in this category must in every other respect qualify for graduate admission to Princeton. A qualifying student may take undergraduate courses or a combination of undergraduate and graduate courses in preparation for application in the chosen field. Admission as a degree candidate following this preparatory period is not automatic.
Qualifying students are charged full tuition and required fees, and normally they are not eligible for University financial support, including assistantships in instruction. Qualifying student status is tenable for one year only.
Visiting Student. A visiting student is a person who comes to Princeton for up to one year as a nondegree candidate. A visiting student typically has some particular need that can be met at Princeton, for example, consultation with a faculty member, enrollment in a specific course or courses, or the use of library or laboratory facilities. Visiting student status is tenable for one year only. Visiting students are charged full tuition and the required Student Health Plan (SHP) fee, may take courses for credit and receive an official transcript, and normally are not eligible for University financial aid, including assistantships in instruction.
Visiting student status may be extended beyond the normal one-year limit in cases where a degree candidate from another institution is accompanying a new faculty member to Princeton and where the student expects to spend more than one year at Princeton completing dissertation research for the Ph.D. from the home institution. (The student’s length of stay will be determined by the academic dean in consultation with the department and the new faculty member.) In these cases, students will be charged full tuition and required fees less any documented tuition charge and/or other mandatory fees assessed by the home institution.
Visiting Student Research Collaborator. A visiting student research collaborator is an advanced-degree candidate at another institution who applies to Princeton as a short-term, nondegree student to work with a specific Princeton faculty member on a research project that grows out of a specific collaboration or mutual research interest. Such students may visit for as little as one month or for as long as (but no longer than) 12 months. The visitor, or the faculty member whose laboratory the student is visiting, is charged reduced, prorated tuition and fees. Visiting student research collaborators may not take courses for credit or receive a University transcript. The department chair and the Graduate School must approve these appointments.