Students who already hold bachelor's degrees frequently want to take courses without being admitted to one of the university's degree programs. These are students who are not currently enrolled in a degree program but are working toward admission or taking classes for personal or professional enrichment with no plans to work toward a degree.
Such students must apply to the Graduate Non-Degree (GND) program. As GND students, they can take both undergraduate and graduate courses. However, many graduate courses will require GND students to obtain preregistration permission from either the instructor or the department. GND students may not accumulate more than 18 credit hours in a single subject area.
Students who are initially admitted as nondegree students, but who later wish to obtain a graduate degree, must make formal application for admission to a departmental degree program. Once admitted, the department may recommend to the dean of the Indiana University Graduate School that credit earned as a nondegree student be applied to degree requirements. Students should be aware that certain divisions specifically prohibit course work taken under nondegree status from counting toward a degree after a student has been admitted to a degree program.
The types of financial aid available to graduate students include loans and federal work study from Federal Title IV programs and scholarships from IUPUI. A small number of graduate students qualify for fee credits from SSACI.