Understanding Credit Hours at Georgia Military College

I'm so confused. Georgia Military College mentioned something about '1 credit hours'? Sorry if this sounds clueless, but could someone break down what this means? And how does this impact my study load and graduation timeline?

In higher education, a credit hour is a measure of the workload of an enrolled student and often corresponds to the amount of scheduled instruction time or the amount of work required to complete a course. Generally, for every credit hour, you can expect to spend about 2 to 3 hours of study time each week outside of class. So, for example, a 3-credit course may require around 6 to 9 hours of work outside of the classroom each week, on top of attending lectures or other course-related activities.

Credit hours are central to your college experience for a couple of reasons. They can dictate full-time versus part-time status, impact your eligibility for certain financial aid, shape your class schedules, and define progression in your degree program. Usually, being a full-time student requires a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester, but the average load is around 15 credit hours.

When it comes to graduation timelines, typically, degree programs require a certain number of total credit hours to graduate. A common number for an associate degree, typically offered at community colleges and some four-year institutions, like Georgia Military College, is 60 credit hours.

To calculate how long it would generally take to reach this requirement, you could divide by your average credit hours per semester. For instance, if you take 15 credit hours per semester, you'd typically need about 4 semesters (or 2 academic years) to accumulate 60 credits.

However, every student's pace and course load will differ. Some individuals may take fewer credits per semester to balance work or other responsibilities, which could extend their time at college. Conversely, others may choose to take on an abundance of credit hours or enroll in summer sessions to graduate earlier.

It’s also crucial to remember that some courses may be more credit-hours than others due to the intensity and workload of the course. Higher-level courses often carry more credit hours than introductory courses.

The best way to navigate this is to discuss your intended study load and graduation timeline with an academic advisor who can help you map out your degree path.