Credit Hours and Course Load
Whether you're registered for a traditional campus course, a hybrid course (with content delivered both in the classroom and online) or an online course, you can use these metrics as general rules of thumb:
|
2 hours of out-of-class study per hour of instruction time |
15 hours of instruction time per credit |
30 hours of out-of-class study per credit |
The first semester of enrollment generally requires more time for adjustment and developing time management skills. Your advisor (and in some cases, one of the Student Development Deans) will work with you to consider how many credits you should register for each semester, in light of family, work, ministry, and other responsibilities.
Part-Time vs. Full-Time
A typical part-time course load is six credits per semester; full-time ranges from eight to ten credits per semester. For financial aid purposes, the minimum number of credits in order to be considered full-time, by program, is as follows:
|
3+ credits per semester for DMin |
6+ credits per semester for ThM, DIntSt, and EdD |
8+ credits per semester for MDiv, MA (all), and GSD |
If you would like to register for more than 18 credits in a given semester, we ask that you submit an Academic Petition and request permission to do so.
Time Budgeting Tool
We suggest that you take a few minutes to use our Time Budgeting Tool to consider your course load in light of your schedule.