The NIU Graduate Council Monday approved four changes to the Graduate School’s catalog which were submitted by the Graduate Council Standards Committee.

Graduate School Dean Jerold Zar said up to nine semester hours of law now will be credited to any graduate degree program, with the approval of the student’s major department.

Grades from law courses a student takes, however, will not be computed with the student’s graduate school gradepoint average.

e said the safeguard on this addition lies in the fact that departments will decide if the law courses in question are applicable to the student’s area of study.

“Graduate students shouldn’t interpret the provision by (it) meaning there are lots of law courses available,” Zar said.

“Students may find law courses difficult to obtain because, in most cases, they’re available to full-time law students only,” he said.

New graduate catalog wording also will state that departments can require a higher standard for acceptance into graduate school, Zar said.

“Departments might have to deny admission because they don’t have enough resources due to budget cuts around the university,” Zar said.

As a result, the catalog will state that “limited resources may dictate a need for limited enrollments, requiring departments to restrict admissions …”

Another modification to the catalog will be students not earning the minimum GPA score still might be admitted.

Zar said students may prove themselves by obtaining an “exceptional” score on the Graduate Records Exam (GRE) or GMAT admissions tests, demonstrating an ability to conduct graduate work at a regionally accredited university, or presenting other “relevant evidence acceptable to the department.”

“This provision has always been there (in the catalog),” Zar said. “These additions are just a small change in the catalog’s wording.

“Sometimes a department might decide that a student shows a significant ability to handle graduate work. He might have done well in courses off campus, or maybe he has the potential to do well (in the graduate school program).”

A third addition to the catalog, Zar said, is any grade change submitted more than a month after the start of the next term will require a written explanation from the instructor and the office of the graduate school dean.

Finally, wording requiring students-at-large, who interrupt their studies, to re-apply after refraining from registering for over 13 months has been deleted. Zar said this is being chainged because “it is not even enforced by the graduate school,” Zar said.