Following completion of the dissertation, the student must pass a final oral defense. The defense is on the subject matter of the dissertation, as well as other topics considered pertinent by the dissertation committee. The defense may cover the student's coursework or current developments in the major and minor areas. Graduate assistants and students who are engaged in activities that subtract from their available time for study and research may be required to carry reduced loads. Graduate assistants are expected to be full-time students with no outside employment.
All students pay in-state tuition regardless of residency status.
To be considered for a graduate assistantship or fellowship, a candidate must have excelled in his or her undergraduate program and any previous graduate study. Applications for assistantships to begin in August should be forwarded to the Accounting Department by the preceding March 1st. Assistantships for the summer session are limited. The chair of the Accounting Department assigns job responsibilities for each student on assistantship. Those students on teaching assistants usually teach two sections of an introductory accounting course each semester.