STUDENT LOAD
The unit of credit for work at UNK is the semester hour.
- Twelve to sixteen credit hours each semester is considered a normal class load during
the academic year for full-time undergraduate students. Up to eighteen credit hours may be
taken by undergraduate students without petitioning for an over-load.
- Undergraduate students wishing to carry more than eighteen hours must meet these
requirements: (a) students requesting 19-21 hours must have at least a 3.0
cumulative GPA; (b) students requesting 22 or more hours must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA.
Requests for exceptions to this policy must include the written
approval of the student's faculty advisor and be
submitted to the Registrar for approval. The Registrar must approve all requests to
register for nineteen credit hours or more.
- Nine credit hours each term is considered a full-time load for graduate students. Graduate students seeking a class load in excess of twelve
credit hours shall obtain an over-load approval from the Graduate Office prior to
registration. Requests for exceptions to this policy must be approved in writing by the
student's faculty advisor and the Graduate Dean.
- The following restrictions govern student course loads for the twelve-week summer
session. Students may enroll in:
- A maximum of 6 hours per each four-week segment.
- A maximum of 9 hours per each eight-week segment.
- No more than 15 undergraduate or 12 graduate hours during the entire twelve-week summer session.
Approval for credit loads in excess of normal limits shall require a minimum 3.2
cumulative GPA, and shall be confirmed by written authorization from the appropriate
faculty advisor, Academic Dean, Graduate Dean, or the Office of Student Records and
Registration. All in all, a graduate student may earn no more than twelve hours of credit
during the summer session.
- Class hour/contact hour = 50 minutes
- Semester = 15 instructional weeks plus finals week
At UNK, the semester credit hour is the unit used to measure course work. UNK adheres to the Carnegie unit for contact time, i.e.,
a minimum of 750 minutes or 15 contact hours for each credit hour awarded.
The number of credit hours assigned to a course quantitatively reflects the outcomes expected, the amount of time spent in class,
and the amount of outside preparatory work expected for the class. According to federal regulations, a credit hour is defined as an amount
of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that reasonably approximates:
- Not less than one class hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours out of class student work
each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or
the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time, or;
- At least an equivalent amount of work as outlined in item 1 above for other academic activities as established by the
institution including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit
hours.
This credit hour policy applies to all courses at all levels (graduate, postgraduate and undergraduate) that award academic credit
regardless of the mode of delivery. Academic units are responsible for ensuring that credit hours are awarded only for work that meets the
requirements outlined in this policy.
The expectation of contact time inside the classroom and student effort outside the classroom is the same in all formats of a course
whether it is fully online, a blend of face-to-face contact with some content delivered by electronic means, or one delivered in lecture
or seminar format. Courses that have less structured classroom schedules, such as research seminars, independent studies, internships,
practica, studio work, or any other academic work leading to the award of credit hours, at a minimum, should clearly state learning
objectives, expected outcomes and workload expectations that meet the standards set forth above.
