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12 CREDIT HOURS OR MORE PER SEMESTER?*

What does this mean? I am planning to go to an out of state college and it says that the nonresident tuition is $4,563 for 12 credit hours or more per semester? So, how much credit is one class? I just want to take my basic classes at the community college and then transfer to a ny university.

Answers:

1) Most courses in college are 4 credits each, which would mean three classes. Most schools recommend 16 credits, or 4 courses per semester.

2) Credit hours are determined by how many hours a week you attend class. If you have one class that is 1.5 hours long, two days a week, that would be a 3 credit hour class. Most classes are 3-4 hours a week, giving you 3-4 credit hours per class. I go to FAU and I am taking two 3 creditclasses and one 4 credit class, equaling 10 total credit hours. If you need to have 12 credit hours, you will be attending classes 12 hours a week.

3) It depends on the class. In general one credit hour is one in class hour. If your class meets 3 hours a week, it is a 3 credit hour class. If it meets 5 hours a week, (like 8am to 9am Monday - Friday) then it is a 5 credit hour class. Remember that one hour in class should be met with 2 hours study / homework. So normally 12 hours of classes means another 24 hours of out of class work. So that is a 36 hour week. But this depends a lot on the class and the difficulty of the school etc too. Labs work differently. With a lab class it is generally 3 hours in lab equals one credit hour. This is because in theory labs have little to no outside work or studying. It is a good idea to get more "bang for your buck" when it comes to classes, but you don't want to bite off more than you can chew. Also that "or more" is usually only up to a point. At our school that cost would cover 12 - 18 hours, but more than 18 hours it would cost extra, and you had to get special permission to take more than 21 hours. This is because Freshman idiots wouldn't realize in college you spend on average 2 hours outside of class for every hour in class. During your first trimester I would say 15 hours is a good starting point. It gives you some bang for your buck, but it isn't asking too much. Your schedule may be M-F 8am - 9am English (5 hours) MWF 1pm - 2pm Algebra (3 hours) T,H - 1:30pm - 3pm History (3 hours) MWF 11am - noon Biology (3 hours) H 6pm - 9pm Biology Lab (1 hour) For a total of 15 hours. What I wrote above is a very typical first semester college schedule. You need to use the spaces between classes to study / do homework or you will flunk out. You can study at night instead, but you will likely want to do other things then. It is best to use your between class time to work on your classes and free up your nights.

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