The regular academic year consists of a fall semester and a spring semester. Fall and spring semesters consist of 13 weeks of schedule classes and a two hour comprehensive final exam. As a general rule, a credit hour includes a minimum of 42 hours of coursework with 1/3 being classroom or equivalent instruction and 2/3 being outside course engagement. On average a three credit hour course requires a minimum of 126 hours of work. An equivalent amount of work is required for non-classroom credits. An undergraduate student is classified as full time when enrolled for 12-17 credit hours in a semester. Graduate students are classified as full time when enrolled for 9 credit hours in a semester. Students may complete the minimum of 120 semester credits required for a baccalaureate degree with eight semesters of 15 credits. Programs that require 124 semester hours for a baccalaureate degree could complete with four semesters of 15 credits and four semesters of 16 credits.
Undergraduate students who wish to register for more than 17 credit hours must meet the following criteria:
- To enroll for 18 credit hours, the student must have a 2.75 GPA.
- To enroll for 19 credit hours, the student must have a 3.0 GPA.
- To enroll for 20 hours, the student must have a 3.5 GPA.
Special sessions include:
- May Term (MA) - three weeks. May term courses are offered at discounted rates in an approximately three-week period immediately following the spring graduation. Most May courses are three credits but a maximum of four credits may be earned. Two credit hours in May is considered full time. A maximum of four credits may be earned.
- Summer Session 1 (S1) - five weeks. Three semester hours of credit is considered full time. A maximum of four credits may be earned.
- Summer Session 2 (S2) - five weeks. Three semester hours of credit is considered full time. A maximum of four credits may be earned.
- Summer1Term (S1T) - 13 weeks. Six semester hours is considered full time. A maximum of twelve credits may be earned.
Students may earn a maximum total of 17 CAS credits during the summer terms (May, S1, S2 and S1T).
