There are a few places where assistantships are advertised. The Graduate School maintains an Opportunities Bulletin Board where you can view assistantships and jobs across campus. You can view general information about assistantships here.

The USC Career Center uses the online career management platform Handshake. You can create an account on Handshake and search for jobs there.

You can apply for assistantships advertised through the Career Center by using the Handshake online career management platform managed by the Career Center. The Opportunities Bulletin Board has application instructions with each job posting. To apply for College of Education assistantships that may not be advertised, you can complete the Graduate Assistant Application Form found here.

There are fellowships and awards that are sponsored by the Graduate School, and the application information is on the website. The College of Education offers some scholarships by application to new and continuing students. The typical application period for these scholarships is late January to early March each year. FAFSA information is available on the USC Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships website.  

You will have a faculty advisor who works with you to determine the courses you will take in the program. The courses you take in your first semester may be in your email from the Gamecock EdQuarters office welcoming you to the program and providing some information for getting started at USC, or they may be in an email that your program or department sends.

You can change your starting term within one year of the original admission term. You can find the link to the Update Request Form under the Change Starting Term After Admission dropdown under the Update an Existing Admission heading.

You will need to reactivate your account by following the instructions under the Reactivate Degree-Seeking Enrollment Privileges dropdown under the Update an Existing Admission heading. If your initial admission term is more than a year in the past and you have not enrolled in classes or it’s been more than 3 years since you were last enrolled, you will need to submit a new "primary" application .

If you have a citizenship hold, you should check the information on the Citizenship page to make sure you have submitted all required documents. You can also contact the Registrar’s office from a link on the Citizenship page.

If you have a residency hold, you should check the information on the Residency page to make sure you have submitted all required documents. You can also contact the Residency staff from a link on the Residency page.

If you have a transcript hold, you should check to make sure you have submitted all required transcripts. Official transcripts are required before you enroll in your second term of classes. If you have submitted your transcripts and have a confirmation email, you can forward that confirmation email to COESTUDY@mailbox.sc.edu and ask that your graduate coordinator in the Gamecock EdQuarters office forward it to the Graduate School.

If you have an immunization hold, you should check the information on the Health Requirements page to make sure you have submitted all required documents. You can also contact the Immunization office from a link on the Health Requirements page.

It is always easiest to submit immunization records even if you are in a fully online program because once the immunization hold is lifted it is not reset if you have submitted your immunization records. Students in on-campus or hybrid programs must submit immunization records.

If you are in a fully online program, you are eligible to submit the Distance Learner Exemption Form, but you will have to submit it each semester to avoid having an immunization hold.

If you have submitted your immunization paperwork and it has been 72 hours since submission, send a secure message in the myhealthspace system to the Allergy, Immunization and Travel Clinic Provider (AIT Provider) to ask that your immunization hold be lifted. You can also check to see if you have received a secure message from the Health Center in myhealthspace.

Students may need to pause in their graduate studies for various reasons. If you do need to take a break at the end of a semester or before a new semester starts, it’s always a good idea to let your faculty advisor know via email and to notify Gamecock EdQuarters at COESTUDY@mailbox.sc.edu about your plans. If you have already applied for financial aid, you will want to check with the Financial Aid office to let them know you do not plan to continue by emailing uscfaid@sc.edu or calling 803-777-8134.

If you are ready to return and have missed a Fall or Spring semester, you will need to submit an update request form to the Graduate School by following the instructions under the Reactivate Degree-Seeking Enrollment Privileges under the Update an Existing Admission heading. If your initial admission term is more than a year in the past and you have not enrolled in classes or it’s been more than 3 years since you were last enrolled, you will need to submit a new "primary" application .

If the need for time off occurs during a semester when you have some type of extenuating circumstance, such as death in the family, accident, or illness that is preventing your successful completion of the semester, you can request a grade of W for extenuating circumstances. Extenuating circumstances require that a grade of W is requested for all courses in the same term. It is not a selective withdrawal process. To begin this process, contact Donna Watson, Director of Graduate Student Services and Admissions (watsond5@mailbox.sc.edu ). She will assist with the process. You will need supporting evidence for the extenuating circumstance—obituary, accident report, doctor’s note, etc.

There are some registration instructions online. There are several types of holds that can prevent registration, and the steps to resolving those holds are found in the online instructions link above.

You will want to plan your courses with your faculty advisor, so make sure you have contacted them with any questions before registration opens for the next term. You can view the registration dates here.

You can view this short video on YouTube to learn about the registration process on Self Service Carolina.

You can contact COESTUDY@mailbox.sc.edu or call 803-777-6732 to speak with the graduate coordinator responsible for your program.

If you have specific questions about financial aid, it’s best to contact the Financial Aid office directly. Their email address is uscfaid@sc.edu , and their phone number is 803-777-8134

You can check your application status at the  Manage My Account  portal. For other Graduate School processes after you have submitted your application, check here.

Students must be enrolled in at least 1 credit hour in the semester in which they plan to graduate. Some students who graduate in August prefer to do the late walk process for the following December so they can participate in a commencement ceremony. If you plan to do the late walk process, apply to graduate in August. After August 15, submit the Request To Participate in Commencement Early/Late form for the Fall commencement.

Take a look at the apply to graduate process.

If you left in good standing within the past year, you should be able to reactivate degree-seeking enrollment privileges to the same program. if you have not attended for 3 or more years or your initial admission term is more than a year in the past, you can submit a new primary application.  

If you were suspended, you can request to be reinstated after serving one calendar year of suspension. To review the process, view Reinstatement After Suspension in the Bulletin. If you have been out of school for 24 months and would like to reapply, you can view the Academic Forgiveness Policy in the Bulletin. 

The USC Center for Teaching Excellence has significant resources for everyone who teaches, but they have specific teaching development tools for graduate students. Graduate Teaching/Instructional Assistant (GTA/IA) Training is required before teaching for the first time. You can register for the GTA/IA training here through the link at the bottom of the page. Michelle Hardee, Ph.D. (hardeem@mailbox.sc.edu ) is the GTA/IA Training Program Manager.