Though there are many different academic requirements that must be satisfied in order to obtain a Tufts degree, one of the most unexpected obstacles to graduation for undergraduates can be the residency requirement. Regardless of fulfilled distribution requirements or completion of a major concentration, the residency requirement dictates that a student must be matriculated and enrolled as a full-time student for eight semesters at Tufts. For those who want to have the options of early graduation or part-time student status, this residency requirement is often the largest barrier to completing their degree requirements early, while other students have discovered that fulfilling this requirement may come down to a question of simply paying full-time tuition.
With the exception of dual degree and transfer students, "residency" for undergraduates is satisfied by completion of a minimum of eight semesters of full time study — "full-time" meaning enrollment in at least 12 semester-hour units (SHU). A semester of this requirement can also be completed by combining pre-matriculation credits, Tufts Summer Session classes and Tufts in Talloires,totaling up to 17 SHUs between five credit-bearing courses, or 15 SHUs for students who matriculated prior to fall 2018.
Students choose to forgo the traditional eight-semester Tufts experience for a variety of reasons. Junior Olivia Brandon made the decision to take time off this coming spring and fall 2020 to work for a presidential campaign. Brandon cited her work experience in the political sector as helpful in contextualizing her academics.
“It has made me understand why I’m taking the classes that I’m taking. I couldn’t imagine sitting in a classroom while the most important election of our time is happening," Brandon said.
In order to fulfill the residency requirement, Brandon took three online summer classes while interning 40 hours per week in Washington, D.C., this past summer. She did so in conjunction with a plan to go abroad during fall 2021, the semester after her projected graduation date, in order to finish her degree. However, she said that confusion is a common sentiment of the process.
“It felt like there were a lot of hoops … I think they’re pretty clear that a lot of things don’t count, but the whole time I was planning, I was like, if I calculate something wrong, I’m screwed," Brandon said.
Brandon’s high school did not offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which at the time was a reason she chose the school. She believed that her teachers wouldn’t be restrained by a specific curriculum, but she now cites frustration regarding pre-matriculation credits.
“If I had just taken three AP tests, then I would only have to take two summer courses, and it would have saved me so much money and time," Brandon said.
According to Dean of Undergraduate Studies Carmen Lowe, the residency requirement was originally implemented due to concern that Tufts students, particularly men, would be forced to expedite their education in two or three years so that they could be sent to fight in the military. While the requirement remains in place today, the rationale for its implementation has shifted.
“We know that the vast majority of students, when they overload on classes, don’t do well. They don’t do well academically, they don’t have time for self reflection and they’re not taking advantage of leadership opportunities or extracurriculars. We have also encountered students, whether it’s their parents pressuring them or they feel guilty, they think, ‘I need to finish as quickly as I can,’” Lowe said. “The residency requirement says that there is no benefit to an overload. There is no pressure and no incentive to do that.”
Additionally, Lowe commented on the holistic vision of the residency requirement, which encourages an education predicated on eight full-time semesters to develop as a student.
“There’s a lot of informal ways in which students learn, whether it is starting their own club or teaching an ExCollege course. There’s so many opportunities, many of it officially part of the Tufts curriculum and much of it not. During the eight semesters, we hope that students have the time to develop and reflect,” Lowe said.
Emily Ng (LA'19) said that she decided to enroll part time in her senior spring because she wanted to prioritize other endeavors like the job search; she also felt that she had already taken advantage of all the courses that she wanted to. As a part-time student, Ng took “Watercolor” (PAIM-0093) on the Medford campus and audited an English course and an American studies course.
When asked if she felt compromised of a holistic Tufts experience because she was not enrolled full time, Ng said that she did not.
“I think that someone like me who is still really passionate for that kind of discussion and collaborative classroom atmosphere can still find that without paying for it. That kind of residency requirement logic just feels bad," Ng said.
Ng discovered last minute that she would be able to enroll as a part-time student. However, because she had taken a gap year prior to coming to Tufts, her AP scores were five years old by the time, which she said led to a lengthy process of trying to work with the College Board to access her archived scores.
Because the process felt difficult, Ng said that she had doubts that her AP scores would be reported in time to receive approval for her part-time student status and a tuition refund. However, she mentioned that she still had the autonomy to decide how many SHUs she enrolled in irrespective of her status as a full-time or part-time student.
“If it didn’t pass, I wouldn’t get a refund and I could just go part-time [credit-wise], but because I paid for full time, I might as well take advantage of it [and enroll in more classes]," Ng said.
Enrolling in fewer SHUs would not determine her part-time status; it was the tuition bill that distinguished whether she was a part-time or full-time student and if she satisfied the residency requirement for her degree. Furthermore, fulfillment of the residency requirement through full-time enrollment can be dependent on payment of a full-time tuition bill, not the amount of credits that a student eventually enrolls in.
In an electronic message, Romy Aboudarham (E'19) commented on her experience with the tuition aspect of the residency requirement. Through conversations with undergraduate advising deans, she discovered that her full-time status and ability to fulfill the residency requirement were not dependent on her course load.
"If you enroll in the semester paying full tuition and sign up for a full course load, you can then drop below full time requirement as long as you pay full tuition," Aboudarham said.
In this case, Aboudarham said that she was able to fulfill the residency requirement during her junior spring because she paid full tuition, despite the fact she had dropped down to 10 SHUs.
Lowe said that there is sometimes confusion around the word “residency” being used to define student enrollment. It can be conflated with the word “residential,” yet “residency” has nothing to do with where a student lives.
“It means you’re a matriculated full-time student. It doesn’t mean you’re living on campus or living in a dormitory, it doesn’t mean that you’re just hanging around campus, it means that you are enrolled. At Tufts, they define that as a full-time semester or attempting a full-time semester," Lowe said.
Throughout the process of trying to approve her part-time status, Ng said that she remembered experiencing emotional stress.
“It was a lot of emotional energy and work, but in the grand scheme of all this, I know I’m someone who can afford to pay full tuition if it didn’t work out. I’m lucky that I can," Ng said.
Ng questioned the impact of this requirement in terms of student accessibility to a Tufts education.
“It really does explain how Tufts is an ally. Are they an ally with working class students and for students on financial aid? Is that reflected through their policies and actions?” Ng said.
“Certainly the faculty is aware of the complexity,” Lowe said. “There is concern about pre-matriculation credits and equity and fairness along socioeconomic lines.”
The last time that the faculty talked in depth [about the residency requirement] was when they changed the requirement a decade ago. A new policy called "semester substitution" was implemented in 2007 in order to increase flexibility within the residency requirement.
According to Lowe, this loosening of the requirement allowed students to count any kind of pre-matriculation credit (AP, International Baccalaureate, SAT II scores) in combination with credits from Tufts summer classes to count towards one full-time semester.
Prior to 2007, students had to complete eight full-time semesters with no exceptions in the requirement, meaning that students who took medical or personal leaves were forced to stay on campus for an additional full-time semester.
“When I explain to students why [the residency requirement exists], I say, believe me, you don’t want to go back to the way it was," Lowe said.
The residency requirement exists with just as much importance as any other graduation requirement. A student cannot graduate if they have completed all academic requirements in seven semesters yet have not fulfilled their residency.
“[This is] just like you won’t complete your degree if you are Arts and Sciences and haven’t completed your world civilizations requirement," Lowe said. “The expectation for Tufts students is that we don’t want people simply coming here and taking class. In addition to formal coursework, there are these rich opportunities for extracurricular and co-curricular learning. This is all supposed to be a part of a residential college experience."
Brandon commented on the variety of ways that she believes students may want to interact with their education.
“Different people have different relationships with their college experience. It’s important to validate that … I don’t think it’s right to judge what a liberal arts education should be for each student," Brandon said.
The experiences highlighted by Brandon and Ng regarding their individual choices to maneuver their eight semesters at Tufts highlight the ways in which flexibility despite the residency requirement can allow students to diversify and supplement their education.
“The beautiful thing about college is that there are so many ways to get an education that are not through classes. I honestly don’t know how that can ever get structured through tuition. How do you put a price on education that is very individual and when it comes in so many different forms and ways that you don’t expect throughout college?” Ng said. “The ways I learned my senior year were different than the ways I learned my [first-year].”
The Value of Residency: Students, administration discuss residency requirement hurdles
