Colleges and universities divide credit hours in either semester or quarter hours. This means that students are required to complete different credit hours based on whether they attend a semester which takes approximately 15 weeks to complete or quarters which take about 10 weeks. For instance, the required semester credit hours need for a bachelor degree is between 120 to 126 credit hours. However, since quarters are quicker, students will have to complete more credit hours to obtain a bachelor's degree. Colleges and universities that are on a quarter system may require students to complete 186 credits or higher depending on the major.
Whether students are in a semester or quarter system, courses are divided into credit hours. Typically, one class equals three credit hours at the undergraduate level. There are, however, some courses that can be more or less than three credit hours. For example, internships are often part of the required curriculum for a major such as marketing or geography. The internships can be one credit hour or four depending on the course requirement. Usually, colleges and universities will only allow students to take a certain number of credits per quarter or semester. Full-time students usually take 12 to 15 credit hours each quarter or semester to graduate with a bachelo'sr degree. Part-time students take less than 12 credit hours each quarter or semester to graduate.
Students who complete credit hours to graduate with a bachelor degree have to pick a major. These majors allow students to take courses in their chosen career field. Both universities and colleges require part of the credit hours to graduate to be devoted to students chosen major. Typically, these credit hours make up majority of the credits needed to graduate.
General education course requirements are credit hours students must complete to graduate. General education credit hours are different than classes that are required for students' majors. All students must take courses such as speech, English or math. Even if students complete their major credit hour requirements, they can't graduate until their general education courses are completed.