The semester hour is the basis of all credits. Generally, for each 50-minute segment that a class meets each week, one credit hour is awarded. Therefore, for example, a class that meets 50 minutes three days a week (e.g., Monday-Wednesday-Friday) would be worth three semester credit hours. Science courses and other classes that require a laboratory period generally count for four (4) semester credit hours. One class hour or one laboratory period or one half-hour of private instruction in applied music courses each week for one semester constitute a semester hour. Classes are scheduled to meet a minimum of 700 minutes for each semester hour of credit. Since fall 2017, for most majors, a minimum of 120 credit hours is required for graduation. Due to the nature of the specific course of study, however, some majors require additional hours.
Courses taught in online format will have significant asynchronous learning. In these courses additional learning occurs in many forms such as group projects, digitally recorded lectures, and online discussion forums. Therefore, course credit hours are determined by considering the time required to complete the assignments. A 1 CH online course meeting for 15 weeks should require approximately 3 hours of learning activities. A 1 CH online course meeting for 7 ½ weeks should require 4-5 hours of learning activities (see table below: “Time/Session Minimum Equivalents for Traditional, Blended and Online Courses”).