Classification of Students

Class standing is based on the number of credit hours completed by the student as identified by the program cumulative statistics:

Course Load

Students who register for 12 or more credit hours in an academic term are regarded as full-time students.  Students will not be permitted to enroll in more than 18 hours during a regular semester or more than 8 credit hours during a summer session without appropriate unit override approval.

Enrollment Status

Policy and Guidelines for Determining Units of Academic Credit

A unit of academic credit is awarded to a student upon successful completion of an approved instructional course, or by the demonstrations of competency, demonstration of proficiency, or fulfillment of learning outcomes that is the equivalent to that provided by an approved instructional course.

Indiana University policy states that a 3-credit hour lecture class "shall meet for approximately 2,000 minutes, excluding the final examination period."  IU Southeast guidelines require a 3-credit lecture class to meet for a minimum of 2,100 minutes, excluding the final examination period.  The following guidelines are based on these standards, supplements by the federal requirement that the standards for award of a credit hour should include the expectation of an approximate 1:2 ratio of time spent in the classroom to time spent in study/preparation and completion of outside class assignments for a traditional class format.  The study/preparation times in this policy refer to the time required for a typical student to complete the study of and out-of-class work needed to receive a passing grade in the course or other academic activity, in the judgment of the appropriate faculty.

Emerging delivery methodologies may necessitate determining a unit of credit with non-time based methods.  These courses shall use demonstration of competency, demonstration of proficiency, or fulfillment of learning outcomes to insure these courses are equivalent to traditionally delivered courses.

The following minimum standards for a unit of academic credit may only be modified by an academic unit when necessary to fulfill requirements of an accreditation agency.  If modification of the following standards is necessary, these standards should be treated as a minimum requirement for a unit of academic credit.

1. For instructional formats which are structured around time spent in class or other instructional activity, one unit of academic credit will be awarded on the basis of a total time commitment of 2100 minutes per academic term (not including any scheduled final exam period) spent in classroom, laboratory, studio, supervised field experience, or other forms of scheduled student/faculty interaction, and in study, preparation, and work on out-of-class assignments.  For example, the standard 3-credit-hour lecture course will meet for 2100 minutes each semester with the expectation that the average student will also spend 4200 minutes in out-of-class study, preparation and work on assignments.  For formats other than standard lecture courses, the ratio of scheduled time to out-of-class time will vary according to the instructional format and the judgment of the appropriate faculty as to the optimal mix of instructional activities to promote student learning.
2. For instructional formats that are not structured around time spent in class or other instructional activity, such as asynchronous delivery methods*, independent study, student teaching, internships, and student research, one unit of academic credit will be awarded on the basis of either:
   • demonstration of competency, demonstration of proficiency, or fulfillment of learning outcomes as judged by the appropriate faculty to be equivalent to a traditionally defined unit of credit, or
   • what is judged by the appropriate faculty to be equivalent to a total time commitment of 2100 minutes for an average student

*Asynchronous delivery methodologies include but are not limited to correspondence instruction, computer-based instruction, and courses combining differing delivery methodologies.