Registration Requirements

All doctoral students are required to maintain continuous registration as long as they are enrolled in the program and are not taking a Leave of Absence.  This means that every semester, regardless of funding source or physical location, you are required to register (via SSOL) for one of the registration categories below.

Please Note that students must register each semester. Failure to do so may result in incorrect tuition charges and/or lapses in insurance coverage.  The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences requires the completion of two full Residence Units for the MA earned as part of a PhD degree; four additional Residence Units, for a total of six overall, are required for conferral of the MPhil and PhD degrees.

First-year through third-year students: register for a full Residence Unit (RU) during both semesters.

Fourth-year students and beyond:

After completing six residence units:

  1. If you are either (a) registered for a course or (b) hold a University teaching or research appointment (e.g. TAs, RAs, Research Fellows, Teaching Scholars), register for Extended Residence (ER).
  2. If you are not teaching or taking classes, and will instead hold a dissertation fellowship or another fellowship, or are beyond your years of guaranteed funding, register for Matriculation and Facilities (M&F).

Students on external (non-Columbia) funding: If you are receiving external funding within your first six semesters in the program, you still must register for a full residence unit each semester you use the external funding. If you are beyond your first six semesters in the program, you must register for Matriculations & Facilities (M&F) in each semester during which you have external funding.

Students on CU Fellowship but not teaching (Dissertation Fellows): If you are using a year of your Columbia University fellowship and have already completed your teaching duties, you must register for M&F for both semesters.

Registration Call Numbers:
Residence Unit (full RU): 99991
Extended Residence (ER): 77771
Matriculations & Facilities (M&F): 88881

For more information, please consult the GSAS registration page.