Office of the Registrar Unit Definition

Credit hours represent the amount of student work required to accomplish stated student learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement.

A credit hour is equivalent to at least 3 hours of work each week over the period of the 15-week instructional term, inclusive of exams, individual work, and in-course instructional time. In-course instructional time for traditional lecture courses is based on a standard of 50 minutes per week per credit, inclusive of exams, and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week. Labs, performance ensembles, private lessons, physical education courses and other experiential based instructional settings often apply varying ratios of in-class instructional and individual preparation time to meet this standard as appropriate to the individual course.