---
kind: "section"
citation: "38 C.F.R. § 21.4273"
title: "38"
number: "21.4273"
heading: "Collegiate graduate."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/38/21.4273"
---

# §21.4273. Collegiate graduate.

- (a) **In residence.**
  - (1) The Department of Veterans Affairs will measure a nonaccredited graduate or advanced professional course (other than a law course) as provided in [§ 21.4272](/cfr/38/21.4272.md). The Department of Veterans Affairs will measure a nonaccredited law course as stated in [§ 21.4274](/cfr/38/21.4274.md).
  - (2) An accredited graduate or advanced professional course, including law as specified in [§ 21.4274](/cfr/38/21.4274.md), pursued in residence at an institution of higher learning will be measured in accordance with [§ 21.4272](/cfr/38/21.4272.md) unless it is the established policy of the school to consider less than 14 semester hours or the equivalent as full-time enrollment, or the course includes research, thesis preparation, or a comparable prescribed activity beyond that normally required for the preparation of ordinary classroom assignments. In either case a responsible official of the school will certify that the veteran or eligible person is pursuing the course full, three-quarter, one-half, less than one-half but more than one-quarter, or one quarter or less time.
- (b) **In absentia.** A responsible official of the school will certify a program of research pursued by a veteran or eligible person in absentia as full, three-fourths, one-half, less than one-half but more than one-quarter, or one-quarter or less time, and the activity will be assessed by the Department of Veterans Affairs accordingly when:
  - (1) The research activity is defined and organized so as to enable the certifying official to evaluate the time required for its successful pursuit, and
  - (2) The time certified for the research activity is independent of the time devoted to any employment situation in which the veteran or eligible person might be engaged.
- (c) **Undergraduate or combination.** If a graduate student is enrolled in both graduate and undergraduate courses concurrently, or solely in undergraduate courses, VA will measure such an enrollment using the provisions of [§ 21.4272](/cfr/38/21.4272.md) or the graduate school's assessment of training time, whichever will result in a higher monthly rate for the veteran.

## Notes

### Amendments

[31 FR 6774, May 6, 1966, as amended at 31 FR 8293, June 14, 1966; 32 FR 4411, Mar. 23, 1967; 50 FR 21606, May 28, 1985; 61 FR 28755, June 6, 1996]

### Authority

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2141 note, ch. 1606; 38 U.S.C. 501(a), chs. 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, and as noted in specific sections.

### Source

Source: 31 FR 6774, May 6, 1966, unless otherwise noted.

### Amendments

[31 FR 6774, May 6, 1966, as amended at 31 FR 8293, June 14, 1966; 32 FR 4411, Mar. 23, 1967; 50 FR 21606, May 28, 1985; 61 FR 28755, June 6, 1996]