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Extended Studies

Extended Studies

Extended Studies opportunities are available in Winter Term (January), May Term (May-June) and summer. Students in credit-bearing courses and activities may be eligible for financial support (grants and/or loans).

Extended Studies Requirement
Financial Support 
Tuition, Course Load and Expenses
Advising Considerations
Extended Studies Independent Study Contract

Extended Studies Requirement

(from the University catalog)

Every DePauw student must complete at least two Extended Studies opportunities with a passing or satisfactory grade. Options for completing the Extended Studies requirement include:

  • credit-bearing Winter Term or May Term course
  • approved non-credit-bearing course, externship, travel experience or service learning program
  • semester-long off-campus study opportunity or internship
  • independent study, research  project or creative  project

Each of these experiences must be pre-approved to count toward the Extended Studies requirement. At least one of these opportunities must be completed through participation in a DePauw-led Winter Term or May Term course, group travel experience or creative project. (For students entering before Fall 2015 the requirement is that at least one ES experience be in a Winter or May term.)

Students who receive incomplete (I) grades in an Extended Studies opportunity must complete the course by the end of the following semester or the grade will automatically convert to grade of failure (F) or unsatisfactory (U). Students who have a deficient number of Extended Studies opportunities may petition to the Committee on Experiential Learning to make up a course in an alternative way. Graduating seniors who receive a failing or unsatisfactory Extended Studies grade during the senior year may petition to make up the course during the final spring semester if appropriate arrangements can be made. Tuition is charged to enroll in a make-­up Extended Studies opportunity that is credit-bearing course.

Winter Term experiences completed prior to Fall 2014 count toward the Extended Studies requirement. Students who entered DePauw prior to Fall 2014 and are continuing may select to complete the Extended Studies requirement rather than the Winter Term requirement.

Tuition, Course Load and Expenses

Standard Tuition Charges

For tuition and course load purposes, Winter Term is considered to be part of Semester I and May Term part of Semester II. Full time College of Liberal Arts students are eligible to take up to 4.5 credits per semester; School of Music students may take up to 5.0 credits. For example, a CLA student enrolled in 4.25 credits in Fall Term and .5 credits in Winter Term would have a course load of 4.75 credits for Semester 1 and would be subject to a .25 credit overload charge. An SOM student with the same enrollment would be within the 5.0 maximum for the School of Music and would not have an overload charge.

Students enrolled as full-time students in the Fall or Spring term pay the full tuition for the semester, whether or not they participate in the associated extended term.

CREDIT OVERLOAD EXEMPTIONS

Some courses have been exempted from the credit overload calculation. These include:

  • Music ensembles (MUS 181; 271-289)
  • Science Research Fellows research experiences (HONR 191, 192, 193, 194, 291, 292, 491)
  • Honor Scholar senior tutorial (HONR 401, 402)
  • HONR 185, Business and the Liberal Arts
  • Media Fellows (HONR 172, HONR 221, HONR 222, HONR 421, HONR 470)
  • Consultant and tutor training courses (UNIV 300, 301, 310, 315, 316, 320; BIO 295)
  • ROTC courses (Aerospace Science (AS) and Military Science (ARMY))
  • BIO 490, Research Problems (effective Spring 2023)
  • CHEM 170, Stoichiometric Calculations
  • CHEM 395, Independent Study
  • CHEM 405, Thesis
  • COMM 101, Theatre Practicum
  • ETS 250, Ethics in Action
  • ETS 291, Prindle Reading Course
  • PHYS 390, Topics
  • UNIV 135, Academic Excellence Seminar
  • UNIV 180, Science Research Professional Development I
  • UNIV 325, Fellowship Application Writing Workshop
  • UNIV 380, Science Research Professional Development II

Travel Expenses

All off-campus study courses will have additional costs associated with travel expenses. Students in credit-bearing off-campus study courses may be eligible for additional financial support (see below).

Audit

Students may audit Extended Studies courses according to the University policy on auditing: "In order to audit a course, the student must first obtain the instructor's permission to register for the course as an auditor. At that time, the instructor and student agree on the amount of participation required in order for the student to have the audit appear on the transcript." Full-time students may audit one course per term without extra tuition charge. Extended Studies courses taken as audits do not count toward satisfying the Extended Studies requirement and are not eligible for financial support.

Financial Support

Students working toward completion of degree requirements may be eligible for federal financial aid (including loans) for credit-bearing Extended Studies (ES) courses. Students may also be considered for an Extended Studies Grant to support credit-bearing ES courses. To be considered for financial support for Winter or May Term courses, students must complete the need-based application process by May 1 of the prior academic year.  Students who only want to pursue federal loans should contact the financial aid office to discuss options and required applications.

FINANCIAL AID PRIORITIZATION FOR EXTENDED STUDIES

Priority for Extended Studies Grants will be given to those students:

  • who have financial need; and

  • who have not completed, and who will not be completing, a semester-long off-campus experience (e.g., study abroad, Honors & Fellows semester internship); and

  • who have not received financial assistance for prior Winter Term or May Term faculty-led off-campus courses, Winter Term independent study, or Winter Term study at another school.

Being a previous recipient of DePauw financial support for externships or summer internships will not change a student's Extended Studies financial aid priority.  Other situations will be considered on a case by case basis.  

Non-credit-bearing courses, unless otherwise noted in the course description, are not eligible for federal financial aid or Extended Studies Grants.

Advising Considerations

Because of the way credit-bearing Extended Studies courses are calculated into the tuition course load, students who are planning on a credit-bearing Extended Study experience should avoid registering in more than 4.0 course credits (4.5 credits for SOM students) in the semester prior to the experience. There are some exceptions to what counts toward an overload (see above). If students are enrolled in courses after the drop/add deadline (normally the end of the first week of classes), they count toward their course load totals even if they withdraw from the course. 

Extended Studies Catch-Up. Students who are determined to be behind in credit, as determined by the University's Satisfactory Academic Progress policy, may be eligible to take a credit-bearing Extended Studies course without incurring tuition overload fees. Eligibility for the Extended Studies Catch-Up program is determined on a case-by-case basis.