In college, why is taking 9 credit hours a semester instead of 12 such a big deal?

[Mystic Muse]

I'm asking here, because there's no one home I can ask, when I've asked in the past I haven't gotten a straight answer, and right now, the stress from this semester is making it so I can't even sleep.

I'm asking because if I have to go through another 3 semesters like this, I'd rather not do it at all.

[Sholos]

Honestly I've never understood it, either. You'll get some bullcrud excuse about them wanting to be fair to people coming in and so they need to get you through in a timely manner which says to me they don't really care about anyone as an individual. I personally don't think it's an issue and anyone around you who gives you grief about it isn't worth listening to.

[warty goblin]

Honestly I've never understood it, either. You'll get some bullcrud excuse about them wanting to be fair to people coming in and so they need to get you through in a timely manner which says to me they don't really care about anyone as an individual. I personally don't think it's an issue and anyone around you who gives you grief about it isn't worth listening to.

Rule #1 of College: Never assume they care more about you than they need to keep getting your delicious, delicious money, and you will seldom be disappointed. Depending on the institution in question, you may be quite pleasantly surprised (I certainly have been), but that's the bottom line.


As to why the expectation is that people take four classes a semester, it's not an unreasonable amount of work to ask of an intelligent, motivated person. Particularly if they're living on campus, are in reasonable mental and physical health, don't have a job beyond work-study, and don't need to cook, clean or be responsible for anybody else. If a person doesn't fit into that bracket, then the expectation may well be unreasonable.

But otherwise? Yeah, it's a lot of work and can get crazy-stressful on occasion. Welcome to life. One of the things a person hopefully learns in college is how to effectively manage themselves so as to keep the stress at sub-critical levels while managing ever larger amounts of through-put.

[Mystic Muse]

As to why the expectation is that people take four classes a semester, it's not an unreasonable amount of work to ask of an intelligent, motivated person. Particularly if they're living on campus, are in reasonable mental and physical health, don't have a job beyond work-study, and don't need to cook, clean or be responsible for anybody else. If a person doesn't fit into that bracket, then the expectation may well be unreasonable.

But otherwise? Yeah, it's a lot of work and can get crazy-stressful on occasion. Welcome to life. One of the things a person hopefully learns in college is how to effectively manage themselves so as to keep the stress at sub-critical levels while managing ever larger amounts of through-put.

I'm not living on campus, do have a job, and I wouldn't say I'm at all motivated. I hate 3 of the 4 classes I'm taking this semester, and don't see that number getting any lower next semester. Plus, I feel like everybody would be happier if I did well at 9 credit hours than did mediocre or terribly with 12. Especially since it doesn't sound like my mom will be happy with anything less than a B in every class.

[thubby]

because 12 is considered full time. it means you are expected to put as many (realistically more) hours into your studies as a person would put into a full time job. most financial aid demands you go full-time, and the full time tuition is often lower than the per-credit rate.

on the school's end, 4/2 year graduation rate is a statistic that goes into their ratings and assessment.

[shadow_archmagi]

Answer to your question: because colleges suck.

Advice for future: Take the same number of classes, just make half as many of them stressful. Instead of doing four calculus courses, do two calc, one writing, and one underwater basket weaving. That's why language requirements and gen-eds are there.

[Chen]

It is a monetary thing on the Universities part. There are only so many classes that can be offered and so many spots in programs. As such, if those spots are taken up by students taking overall less classes, the universities have less money coming in each year. Hence they distinguish between part-time and full-time students via credit course load. Presumably the subsidies or grants they receive from governments or other organizations can depend on the number of part-time vs full-time students.

From the student's point of view it is generally in your best interest to not drag out the degree too long. That looks bad on resumes and the like. During my mechanical engineering undergrad the standard course load was 15 credits (with a semester or two of 16 credits). The expectation was to finish in 3.5 years. That said once you started hitting the higher level courses it was fairly standard to drop one of your courses for each last few semesters and make them up in one extra semester. An extra year (2 semesters) is probably also not an issue. But once you start hitting 5 years for an undergrad degree, its going to be a black mark on your resume and companies will start asking more questions as to why.

[warty goblin]

I'm not living on campus, do have a job, and I wouldn't say I'm at all motivated. I hate 3 of the 4 classes I'm taking this semester, and don't see that number getting any lower next semester. Plus, I feel like everybody would be happier if I did well at 9 credit hours than did mediocre or terribly with 12. Especially since it doesn't sound like my mom will be happy with anything less than a B in every class.

I don't know how much time your employment, home responsibilities, and commute take, so I can't say if four classes is crazy beyond reason or not. If these things genuinely are enormous time and energy drains, then four classes may be more than you should be taking. Being motivated though is hardly too much to ask, even if you hate some of your classes. Some semesters of suck into every students' life must come; I certainly had mine.


College, at least for me, was something I did because it was a necessary step along the path to my life's goals; and it was not a particularly enjoyable portion of that path. Stay focused on what you want out of college, accept the suck, give each and every problem all you can, conditional on the other problems confronting you, and keep plodding forwards. That's how I did it.

[Razanir]

Advice for future: Take the same number of classes, just make half as many of them stressful. Instead of doing four calculus courses, do two calc, one writing, and one underwater basket weaving. That's why language requirements and gen-eds are there.

That's what I'm doing. I'll always wind up with all these advanced math-y classes, plus something easier like introductory econ classes, or a class on Shakespeare, or a geography class.

[Mauve Shirt]

Careful taking only 9 credits vice 12, it'll extend your degree-getting by at least a semester or two thanks to credits deferred. But that's to be expected from a non-full-time student, of course.

If you're ok with doing part time and achieving a degree slowly (it's what I'm doing for my MS) then go for it!

[Zrak]

Answer to your question: because colleges suck.

Advice for future: Take the same number of classes, just make half as many of them stressful. Instead of doing four calculus courses, do two calc, one writing, and one underwater basket weaving. That's why language requirements and gen-eds are there.

If taking a calculus class is less stressful than taking a writing class, the institution's humanities departments are insufficiently rigorous.

[Dr.Epic]

because 12 is considered full time.

What college do you guys go to? 15 is the norm at my school. Heck, without internships and summer classes, it's actually required you do two 18-credit semesters to graduate in 4 years.

[Flickerdart]

Credits are defined differently everywhere. In my undergrad, we counted credits as class hours per week (most people did 30 per semester, max was 36). Currently, it's hours per week you're expected to spend on the class in total, including homework. 60 is the maximum, most people to 54-66.

[Zrak]

On the other hand, at the university I attended one class was one credit no-matter what. As such, we were typically expected to take four credits per semester, though you could get by with a few semesters of three, or a lot of semesters of three if you made up for it with summer classes or a lot of semesters of five. Almost nobody did that, because most of the advisors were pretty adamant in arguing against us trying that, but I ended up getting to take a lot more classes I enjoyed and having to take a lot less classes I didn't by being willing to try it. Five-class semesters weren't so bad, even with a job, if one made sure to take a large lecture or two and avoid the classes with particularly notorious labs.

[Eloel]

In my college, 12 is the minimum anyone considering graduating on time can take, 15-16 is the average, and successful students take 18-19 credits a semester.
(a 3 credit course = 6 ECTS credits in our system)
Thus I'm still trying to understand the system you are in, care to elaborate?
(1 of our credits is probably not worth the same as 1 of yours)

[Sylthia]

12 is the minimum for full-time in the USA, it may be different in other countries. Although it will probably take more than four years if you only take 12 hours. The big thing is financial aid. If you go under 12, you may lose any monetary assistance.

Personally, I took about 12 hours a semester, while working the equivalent of full time between two jobs. Luckily, I had lots of AP courses going in, so I was able to do it in 4 years.

[tomandtish]

There are a lot of reasons to make sure you know what your school defines as a full time student (in the U.S. it is typically 12 semester hours).

Tax reasons: Full-time students are entitled to benefits and exemptions that part-time students are not. Parents who are helping to fund the education of their full-time children can claim tax benefits as well.

Insurance: Until very recently, it used to be that only full-time students could remain on some insurance policies.

Financial aid: If the school itself is providing financial aid, they receive tax benefits much as parents do when providing it to full-time student over part-time students. This is actually the big one. Colleges and universities can write off more tax deductions on full-time students than they can on part-time students.

[Steward]

Because of the variation in policies by different universities, it may be of some help to talk to an academic advisor at the college in question. At the college I attended, dropping from 12 to 9 hours meant forfeiting all of my financial aid. (Our usage of "credit hour" was probably very different though, because at my school 15 was the norm, 12 was a relatively light load, and 9 was part-time only).

[Razanir]

(Our usage of "credit hour" was probably very different though, because at my school 15 was the norm, 12 was a relatively light load, and 9 was part-time only).

No, that's how it's like here...

[noparlpf]

What college do you guys go to? 15 is the norm at my school. Heck, without internships and summer classes, it's actually required you do two 18-credit semesters to graduate in 4 years.

At most schools 12 credits is the minimum to be considered a full-time student, but 15 is the suggested standard because you need to take 15 a semester on average to get 120 credits in four years.

Anyway, Mystic Muse, if you have a job then it's not unreasonable to be a part-time student, even for a fairly smart and reasonably mentally and physically healthy person. Tell your parents that.

[Slipperychicken]

Doing less than 12 credits is perfectly reasonable if you have a job (or a similarly time-consuming obligation like a serious illness or caring for family members). Also, I've heard that non-fluent english speakers (i.e. many international students) typically take fewer classes than normal because english-language coursework takes them longer.

If your parents are so concerned about you graduating in 4 years, maybe they can pay for college so you don't have to work. Going to school takes a lot of time and energy, and overworking yourself can take a serious toll. I overloaded myself this semester (19 credits, plus orchestra rehearsals, music lessons, and a 40 minute commute to class), and you do *not* want that to happen to you: overworking can negatively impact your grades, your health, and your mental well-being.

[WarKitty]

Can I ask what you're in school for and what you hope to do with it?