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College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Student Information and Forms

Use the information and resources on this page to answer your questions.

For New Graduate Students

Carefully read the following as it contains some time-sensitive information about enrolling in classes and navigating other start-up matters.

This Student Services Center explains how to enroll online via MyPack Portal.

The standard full-time graduate course load is 9 hours for all programs with the possible exception of the final semester in your degree program. See Policies and Graduate School Regulations for more information. As a reminder, audited courses do not count towards full-time enrollment nor towards the student’s Graduate Plan of Work (GPOW).

Your first step is to review the curricular requirements for your degree program, including any specific requirements for the first semester. If you’ve been offered a teaching assistantship, be sure to read the TA/RA contract and meet early with your appointment supervisor. You’ll register for your classes via your MyPack Portal, which you’ll be able to access once the Graduate School has received and processed your official transcripts. The online registration system will indicate which graduate (500-level and above) courses are scheduled for the fall/spring semester. Feel free to contact the instructor if you’d like to know more about a particular course.

In order to enroll, you’ll need to have your advising hold lifted. You can find your program advisor’s name on your Student Center page in MyPack Portal. Consult with your program advisor or the director of your program as you make your course selections—via email, phone or in person. Once your program advisor or director knows what you have planned, he or she will release your advising hold.

This Office of Information Technology explains how to use your Unity ID and password for the first time.

If you are not a North Carolina resident but are hoping to qualify for in-state tuition in your second year, you will need to begin the residency process right away. As this website explains, you will be required to complete certain “residentiary acts” a full year before you apply for residency.

Note: If you are a non-resident student and also a Teaching Assistant, you MUST apply for in-state residency before the start of your second year. The Grad School will not cover out-of-state tuition after the first year.

Begin filling out your GPOW in your first semester, before you meet with your advisor for spring registration, around mid-late October.  This “document” is our record of your progress toward degree.  Each semester you should use it to record the courses you’re enrolled in and the degree requirements they pertain to. It’s your responsibility to update your plan after each enrollment period or schedule change.  SAVE your GPOW whenever you update it. Do NOT click “submit for approval” until you complete the plan at the start of your final semester.

Because the university requires students to have medical insurance, you will automatically be enrolled in a medical insurance plan and you will be required to pay for it yourself. If you already have medical coverage, you MUST go on-line and request a waiver of the university health plan. If you’ve been awarded a Teaching Assistantship, you will be automatically enrolled in the Graduate GSSP TA-RA Health Insurance Plan and will not need to enroll in or waive the Mandatory Health Insurance Plan. The Graduate School will automatically waive you from this insurance plan.

The Office of International Services is home to many helpful resources. All new international students must check in with this office upon admission. 

General Information

Tuition Management Systems (TMS) and FAFSA (Financial Aid) are two options that can help to make payment of tuition and fees manageable.  

TMS partners with NC State to provide a monthly payment option free of interest.  TMS accounts can be established to help pay for all or part of a student’s bill.  For more information on TMS, visit the Student Services Center page, “Monthly Payment Plan.” 

For Financial Aid to cover all or part of a student’s bill, the student must “accept” the financial aid awards by August 1st. This information will be relayed to the Cashier’s Office, notifying the office the student will be receiving financial aid and the aid will cover all or part of the bill. Accepting financial aid awards works as a place holder keeping students from being dropped from their schedule until their financial aid is disbursed. A student’s schedule should not be dropped if their financial aid covers the amount they are required to pay on their student bill; the University understands many students rely on financial aid to cover the costs of attending school.  For more information about billing and financial aid, please visit the “Billing and Financial Aid” page.

Every student, upon acceptance to NCSU, is automatically issued a Unity ID and password which provide access to many university IT resources, including Email and Calendaring. Google Apps @ NC State is the official email system for all NC State students. This is the email account to which all official university communications are sent. Your email address is in this format: yourUnityID@ncsu.edu. For more information visit the OIT (Office of InformationTechnology) homepage or call 919-515-HELP.

Google listservs are the primary means of conveying important information and announcements of deadlines to all active graduate students in the Department. All communication from these groups is sent only to the official email address given to students by the university. Students should therefore check their NCSU email accounts on a regular basis. All active students in the MA and PhD programs are automatically added to their respective Google group. You are free to post announcements/inquiries that you’d like the rest of the group to see. The DGP and Graduate Services Coordinator will also receive all messages on these listserv.

All graduate students will be assigned an office with a desktop computer and printing access. Wireless access is available throughout campus as well. Please visit the OIT website for (much!) more information about computing on campus.

The department has three dedicated printers for graduate students and TAs working on the second and third floor of the 1911 Building.  To print from your personal laptop, follow the instructions at this link:  http://it.chass.ncsu.edu/faqs/printing/index.php.  Graduate students are permitted to print double-sided copies (only) of teaching materials and course material. The department cannot offer printing for downloaded course readings or multiple copies of any document. Printing access will be discontinued when the department’s limited printing budget is exhausted. When the printing budget is exhausted, graduate students wishing to print should visit the WolfPrint page for information about printing on campus. 

  1. Check out what University Housing has to offer if you’d like to consider living on campus. Living on campus is generally more expensive but may be more convenient. 
  2. To search for apartments/housing online, try websites such as Craigslist, Trulia, Barker Realty and Preiss. (Just put those names into a google search and you should find the website.)
  3. For off campus housing, many grad students live around Avent Ferry Rd, or in the 27606 zip code area, as you can ride the bus to campus in this zip code. Avent Ferry Rd has some affordable apartments. Sounds like it has some of the cheaper options near campus.

Forms and Links

General Student Forms

Anthropology Student Manual and Forms

Sociology Student Manual and Forms