Co-op Policy

The Career Center provides options for jobs and internships.

You can earn academic credit while being paid to preview your dream profession.

Visit their office at 309 Carrington Hall or their website to obtain valuable information for both students and employers.

Guidelines for computer science students

Due to the plethora of co-op/internship opportunities for computer science students, the computer science department has decided to develop and publish a set of guidelines.

Receiving Academic Credit

  • You may receive academic credit for co-op work by registering for CSC 399.
  • You may register for 1 to 3 hours of CSC 399 per semester. For 1 credit hour, register for section 1; for 2 hours, register for section 2; for 3 hours, register for section 3.
  • You may apply up to 3 hours of combined CSC 399 and CSC 596 credit toward the computer science elective requirements.
  • Before registering for CSC 399, you must obtain a student learning plan from the office of cooperative education, complete it, and obtain approval from the CSC instructor assigned to CSC 399 (listed on the schedule). This is normally the CSC department head.
  • CSC 399 is a graded course. Course requirements vary but generally include an essay addressing the several objectives you included on your student learning plan.

Co-op work

  • The co-op work assignment must be mutually satisfactory to the CSC department, the office of cooperative education, and the company offering you the co-op assignment.
  • The co-op work assignment should require professional expertise equivalent to that of an upper-division computer science student. You should have completed lower-division (100 and 200 level) computer science courses before requesting co-op credit.
  • The co-op experience should be a professionally challenging, rewarding and relevant one. The computer science department however cannot guarantee that your employer will give you the originally-intended work assignment.

Maximum credit hours per semester

  • Maximum 3 hours is allowed if co-op requires over 20 hours per week, except as noted below.
  • Maximum 2 hours is allowed if you are normally a part-time student and co-op is with the company you work for in essentially the same capacity.
  • Maximum 2 hours is allowed if co-op requires 10-20 hours per week.
  • Maximum 1 hour is allowed if co-op requires less than 10 hours per week.
  • You may always register for less than the maximum hours of credit.
  • CSC instructor assigned to CSC 399 makes the final determination of allowable credit hours.

Effective: 8/10/2010