In recent years, some faculties have allowed modifications to the classical Carnegie definition of a semester credit hour for academic purposes, requiring that one semester credit hour be awarded for fifteen 50-minute sessions of classroom lecture-recitation, each requiring two hours of outside preparation by the student. There are many different types of educational experiences available today that can be appropriately linked to credit hour assignments.

The following definitions and methods apply in managing the link between contact and credit hours for accurate academic measurement and cross-campus comparability. These definitions formalize current and historical policy to guarantee uniformity across the organization.

Courses can include any combination of the components listed above, such as a lecture course with required laboratory periods or a lecture course with an additional need for supervised individual study or tutorial activities.

A semester credit hour is usually awarded for completing one 50-minute session of classroom instruction each week for at least fifteen weeks throughout the semester. This fundamental statistic can be adjusted to meet different academic cycles and study methodologies. Semester credit hours are granted for the following types of education:

I. Lectures, seminars, quizzes, group discussions, and recitations
A semester credit hour is an academic unit earned for fifteen 50-minute sessions of classroom instruction, with each class session requiring two hours of outside study. A three-semester credit hour course meets for fifty minutes three times each week for fifteen weeks, for a total of 45 sessions.

II. Group-supervised activity (laboratory, field trip, practicum, workshop, group studio)
A semester credit hour is provided for the equivalent of fifteen sessions of such activity, with each period lasting 150 minutes or longer and requiring little or no outside preparation. Normally, 45 50-minute sessions of such activities would yield one semester credit hour. Where such an activity necessitates substantial outside preparation on the student's part, the equivalent of fifteen 100-minute sessions will yield one semester credit hour.

III. Individual activity under supervision (independent study, individual studio, tutorial)
For the equivalent of forty-five 50-minute sessions of student academic work, one credit for independent study (defined as a study with initial direction, critique, review, and final evaluation of student achievement by a faculty member) will be awarded
Credit for the tutorial study will be granted at the rate of one semester hour for each fifteen contact hours of regularly scheduled teaching sessions.

IV. Independent Study (Full-Time) (student teaching, practicum)
If a student works full-time in an academic setting, one semester credit hour may be granted for each week of labor.

V. Experiential Education
An institution may grant credit hours for learning achieved outside of school that is a significant component of a program of study at its discretion. When a life or work experience, such as an internship, is deemed a concurrent component of an academic program design, one semester credit hour will be granted for each 40-45 clock-hour week of supervised academic activity that offers the learning necessary for the program study.

VI. Examinable Credit
An institution may grant semester hour credits for mastery proved through credit-by-examination at its discretion. When such examination credit is permitted, it may be utilized to meet degree requirements or to lower the overall number of hours necessary for a degree.

VII. Brief Sessions
Credit hours may be obtained in short sessions (summer sessions, intersessions, etc.) in proportion to those earned during the institution's normal term, with no more than one credit per week of full-time study.

VIII. Appeals and Reconsideration
Institutions may offer an educational rationale for deviations from these policy requirements to the office of the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, which shall be in charge of interpreting them. Credit hours earned in accredited academic programs overseas will be evaluated on an individual basis using established procedures. This office will evaluate any such exceptional arrangements proposed by campuses on an individual basis.