Graduate Cooperative Education

Full-time Master’s degree students in engineering are eligible to participate in the Cooperative Plan of Education (co-op). To be eligible, a student must submit a completed co-op application, résumé, academic plan of study, and a statement outlining expectations and goals of the co-op assignment to the Graduate School of Engineering before the end of his or her first semester of study. Other eligibility requirements include: Master’s degree candidate, full-time enrollment, regular degree status, and minimum 3.000 (B) QPA. Additionally, students who have completed more than twenty-four semester hours of study are not eligible to participate in co-op unless they have made prior arrangements and have approval from a Cooperative Education Faculty Coordinator and the Graduate School of Engineering. Students who hold Stipended Graduate Assistantships (SGAs), Northeastern University Tuition Assistantships (NUTAs), or any other type of assistantship may not participate in the semester(s) during which the award is in effect.

Students may follow either an alternating or a parallel co-op schedule, according to availability. The alternating schedule follows a sequence of full-time co-op employment for a six-month period inter-spaced with periods of full-time classroom study with a minimum of eight semester hours of credit each semester. The parallel schedule allows students to work for approximately twenty hours per week, while simultaneously carrying a minimum course load of four semester hours per semester. Co-op periods are limited to six months per work rotation, and may not exceed twelve months over the course of a student’s program of study. Under either co-op plan a student must register for courses during his or her last semester of study and may not hold a co-op position during that time.