Once a student is accepted into a certificate program or admitted into a degree program, the Graduate School at Penn State expects each student to register for one or more courses for every fall term and spring term until that student completes their program. This is known as continuous registration. The summer term(s) are not required for continuous registration, but each and every fall and spring term is required for continuous registration.

What happens if you don’t take a course one fall or one spring semester? If a student does not register for a fall term or a spring term (or more), then s/he will be required to submit a “resume study” application. The resume study application is actually the first part of the standard application for the Graduate School. The first page of the resume study application looks like this:

After clicking the gold “Apply to Resume Study” button, students then log into their existing Penn State user account (i.e. abc1234). You end up at the “Start New Application” page, where it highlights that resume-study applications do not incur an application fee.

And then, students will fill out the application just like they were re-applying to the same program that they applied to previously (certificate or degree). Technically the student is not reapplying to their program, but that’s what it appears like.

After that, Save and Continue and fill out the remainder of the application. Students will not be prompted to re-upload application materials. Once the application is submitted, it will go through the Graduate School and then come through the LDT program office. If we need more information we will contact the applicant directly.

In sum, if a student does not take at least one course in a fall or spring term then s/he will need to apply to resume study before becoming eligible to register for courses.