Full-time enrollment at the university and for federal financial aid status is 12 or more credit hours. However, to complete a degree program on-time, completing at least 15 hours per semester or 30 hours per year is necessary.
Tuition is the same for students enrolled in 12-18 credit hours. So you can complete extra classes for no extra tuition cost!
No. Students can complete any combination of credit hours over the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters to total 30 hours per year. Two common examples:
14 hours in Fall + 16 hours in Spring
= 30 hours
12 hours in Fall + 12 hours in Spring + 6 hours in Summer
= 30 hours
Some semesters, enrollment will not result in exactly 15 or more hours because of 5 credit hour courses such as foreign language or Calculus.
Co-op programs are 5-year programs by design and generally have highly structured course requirements for each semester that is not a co-op term with an employer.
At minimum, students should plan to spend two (2) study hours per (1) credit hour, on average. So the minimum time commitment would be:
15 credit hours + 30 study hours
= 45 hours per week (That’s a full-time job!)
12 credit hours + 24 study hours
= 36 hours per week (That’s still a full-time job, but graduation will take an extra year.)
For more challenging courses, more than two study hours per credit hour will be necessary.
No. Students who have extensive time commitments involving work, family care, etc. should talk with their advisor about the best strategy to complete the degree. It is critical that students have sufficient time to study for their courses in addition to in-class hours.
