Some graduate students are not fully aware that they can complete a dual or joint degree program from two different schools while at Stanford. Other students are not informed of the current dual and joint degree programs that are offered, or simply do not know the requirements.

At the Graduate Student Council meeting last night, members of the Committee on Graduate Studies (CGS) — a branch of the ASSU appointed by the University’s Academic Council — affirmed they are working towards clarifying the process and guidelines of joint and dual degrees that can be conferred at the graduate level

The CGS members oversee areas including graduate admissions, minimum standards for graduate work, graduate financial aid, minority recruitment and retention and the initiation and renewal of graduate degree programs.

According to CGS member Chris Warshaw, a doctoral student in political science, University policies on dual degrees and joint degree programs for graduate students are fairly unclear.

“We are working on making the process more standardized and transparent,” Warshaw said. “We are on the committee and we can’t even figure out some of the definitions of the degree types. We understand that most of the members of the graduate student body are not very sure of what those definitions are.”

Currently, graduate students who are working on a doctorate can apply to another school and work towards a master’s degree or vice versa, provided that both schools approve the student’s application.

Credit requirements may vary from graduate program to graduate program, and from student to student. Schools and departments that partner together in joint degrees may have specific requirements or limitations, Warshaw said.

“There is an application process for students and it is specific to the particular joint degree or dual degree program that the student is applying to,” said CGS member Carolyn Snyder, a third year doctoral student.

According to Snyder, courses are selected for dual crediting because they encompass work that could sensibly apply to either degree for a student who was not seeking both. In this way, students are able to fully satisfy the requirements for both degrees in much less time.

Stanford Law School, Snyder explained, makes it possible to earn a joint degree in as little as three years and at vastly lower cost than they would at other institutions, thanks to a dual-crediting system. The Law School will accept a certain number of credits earned in another school or department toward the J.D., meaning the same class will satisfy the requirements of both degrees.

But the process of standardizing the guidelines of joint degree programs and dual degree programs is preventing the committee from focusing on other issues that are equally important to the graduate student body, according to Snyder.

“We want this process to be transparent not only to the students, but also to the committee, so that we can also focus on other equally important issues,” Snyder said.