Credit Hours Explained

Credit hours are the units by which Polk State College measures course work. The number of credit hours assigned to a course usually corresponds with the number of hours per week a class meets in a standard 16 week term.

Polk State College uses a semester plan. A semester credit hour is generally equivalent to one hour of classroom or faculty instruction and a minimum of 1-2 or more hours of study outside the classroom for each week in a 15-week semester; therefore a 3-credit hour class will require 3 hours of instruction and a minimum of 3-6 hours of study or work per week outside the classroom meeting time.

Transfer credits earned from institutions using quarter hours are converted to semester hours as follows:

When calculating for graduation requirements, fractions of hours are not rounded up to the nearest whole number. For example, if a student earns 59.5 hours toward a 60 credit-hour degree requirement, the student does not yet qualify for graduation.