First, PhD students who have completed all of their 24 PhD thesis credits are eligible to take
         MATH 8444 - FTE: Doctoral
which is a 1 credit registration that yields full-time student status. (NOTE: A student cannot begin taking PhD thesis credits until after passing the Preliminary Oral Exam.)

Second, there are many jobcodes we can use when we make appointments but four of the most important are:
         9511 - the high-fringe jobcode for TAs
         9519 - the low-fringe jobcode for TAs
         9521 - the high-fringe jobcode for RAs
         9529 - the low-fringe jobcode for RAs

If we appoint a student to a high-fringe jobcode, then they will be billed for any credits that they take beyond 14 credits.
If we appoint a student to a low-fringe jobcode, then they will be billed for any credits that they take beyond one credit.

Therefore: If a professor would like to offer a PhD student an RAship, but hopes to use the less expensive low-fringe 9529 jobcode in a particular semester, he or she should inform the student that any registration beyond one credit will result in a bill.

Presumably, the professor would want to check in advance to see if the student is eligible to take
         MATH 8444 - FTE: Doctoral
That is, presumably, the professor would want to check in advance to see if the student has finished thesis credits. Diane Trager can check this by reviewing the student's academic record.

Note to PhD students: Once you have completed your PhD Preliminary Oral exam, we request that, each semester, after you have picked which courses you wish to take (including audited courses), you should add thesis credits until you reach the 14 credits that your tuition benefit covers. Exception: Once your total number of thesis credits, over all semesters, reaches 24, there is no need to go beyond that. Remember that you cannot take any thesis credits until you have passed your Prelim Oral. If you pass your Prelim Oral in a semester, and you do it before the deadline for adding and dropping courses, we request that you add thesis credits at that point until your total credits for that semester reaches 14.

If you have any questions, please write to gradprog@math.umn.edu