College credit

A credit is the recognition for having taken a course at school or university, used as measure if enough hours have been made for graduation.

In a college or university in the United States, students generally receive credit hours based on the number of "contact hours" per week in class, for one term; more well known as Semester Credit Hours. A contact hour includes any lecture or lab time when the professor is teaching the student or coaching the student while they apply the course information to an activity. Regardless of the duration of the course (i.e. a short semester like summer or intersession) and depending on the state or jurisdiction, a semester credit hour (SCH) is 15-16 contact hours per semester. Most college and university courses are 3 Semester Credit Hours (SCH) or 45-48 contact hours, so they usually meet for three hours per week over a 15-week semester.

Homework is time the student spends applying the class material without supervision of the professor: this includes studying notes, supplementary reading, writing papers, or other unsupervised activities such as labwork or field work. Because students are generally expected to spend three hours outside class studying and doing homework for every hour spent in class, 15 SCH is the typical full course load, although many colleges consider 12 SCH a minimum full-time load for financial aid and other purposes. Some schools set a flat rate for full-time students, such that a student taking over 12 or 15 credit hours will pay the same amount as a student taking exactly 12 (or 15). A part-time student taking less than 12 hours pays per credit hour, on top of matriculation and student fees.

Credit for laboratory and studio courses as well as physical education courses, internships and practica is usually less than for lectures - typically one credit for every two to three hours spent in lab or studio, depending on the amount of actual instruction necessary prior to lab. However, for some field experiences such as student teaching as a requirement for earning one's teaching license, a student may only earn 8-10 credits for the semester for doing 40 hours a week of work.

To figure a grade-point average (GPA), the grade received in each course is subject to weighting, by multiplying it by the number of credit hours. Thus, a "B" (three grade points) in a four-credit class yields 12 "quality points". It is these which are added together, then divided by the total number of credits a student has taken, to get the GPA. Transfer credits may not be counted in the GPA.

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