Unit of Credit

The semester hour is the unit of credit used at all locations served by the University.

In accordance with federal regulations (34 CFR 600.2), a credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an established equivalency that reasonably approximates not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time, or at least an equivalent amount of work for other academic activities leading to the award of credit hours.

Classroom course delivery will include a minimum of 700 minutes of classroom instruction time for each semester hour of credit for lecture-oriented courses. As a general rule, laboratories associated with these courses will incorporate the equivalent of three laboratory hours weekly for each credit hour. Study day and final exams will be coun​ted as scheduled class or laboratory time, but registration periods and scheduled holidays will not.

For non-classroom course delivery, the requirement for student engagement for a 9-week term is no fewer than 5 hours per week per credit hour and for 15-week term is 50 minutes of direct instruction and 100 minutes of offline work per week per credit hour.

It is required that established campus learning outcomes for every course be consistent across all sections, regardless of instructional mode.

For courses in aviation maintenance and flight, the FAA specifies certain minimum contact hour requirements. Classes and laboratories will be scheduled to ensure that these minimums are satisfied.

Transferred quarter hours will be converted to semester credit hours on the following basis: A quarter hour equals two-thirds of a semester hour. Converted credit totals are not rounded to the nearest whole credit.