University of Maryland Graduate School

The Student Emergency Fund (SEF) was established to support students who have unexpected emergency expenses, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis, such as illness, medical emergency, or the need for housing, food or transportation. I am proud to say that in the face of these challenges, the Graduate School has pulled together and is meeting each and every challenge with grit and determination.  

We encourage you to apply by filling out the online application link listed below and provide documentation of the financial hardship that you are experiencing. 

Please note that the SEF awards cannot be used to cover any of the following expenses:

• Tuition, lab fees, health insurance
• Parking tickets and other university-imposed fines
• Costs for entertainment, recreation, non-emergency travel

Request will be reviewed on a case by case basis to determine applicants’ eligibility and an interview may be required (on-line or via phone call) with a representative from the Graduate School as well.  

Recognizing that our students’ lives have been significantly disrupted by COVID-19, we have developed a option in which students will be able to opt-in to Pass/Fail grading on a course-by-course basis with permission of their Graduate Program Director (GPD), course director and the Graduate School. 

The deadline to request Pass/Fail grading is April 24th.

Review the guidelines for the Pass/Fail Grading Option. 

To the fullest extent possible, admissions, enrollment and registration, grade acquisition & posting, and student progression-related, and degree certification activities and functions will continue through the mandatory telework time period.  Some activities and processes may slow down and take longer to complete - and there will be postal mail delays - but otherwise we hope and expect to provide our full, normal support.

The Graduate School fully supports your successful completion of your degree program including your upcoming defense.  

• All defending students will establish a method for videoconferencing (examples include WebEx, Zoom or Skype) the open presentation portion of the defense and defense exam.  
• All committee members may participate remotely in defenses.  
• If the conferencing technology fails and the examiner can not fully participate, the committee may fail to reach its quorum. In this case, the examination must be rescheduled.   
• The Report of Examining Committee will be sent to the Graduate School Dean's Representative in advance of the defense.  
• All committee members are encourage to sign the document electronically.  
• Student will submit the form to the Graduate School within 48 hours.

Recent recommendations and policies regarding COVID-19 require modifications to previously established Procedures for Examination of the Master's Thesis and Procedures for Examination of the Doctoral Dissertation.

ETS has introduced a solution for students who have been impacted by the coronavirus to take the TOEFL iBT® test and the GRE® General Test at home until test centers can reopen. TOEFL® testing is scheduled to begin on March 26, and GRE testing will begin on March 27.

Testing will be conducted through the use of live remote proctoring serviced by ProctorU®. This high-touch, real-time human monitoring of test sessions limits the number of seats available. Students can register beginning today in the following countries:

• United States
• Canada
• Colombia
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Spain
• Hong Kong (China)
• Macau (China)

Find more details about security measures and answers to other questions you may have on the TOEFL and GRE web pages dedicated to this purpose.