Earned hours are used in colleges and universities to classify students' class standings. Usually, students with zero to 40 hours are freshmen, students with 45 to 89 hours are sophomores, students with 90 to 134 hours are juniors and students with more than 134 hours are seniors. Earned hours are also used to determine whether a student has taken enough classes to graduate.
To calculate earned academic hours, a student should first print out their college transcript. They should then cross out classes they failed, got an incomplete in or withdrew from and add up the remaining hours to determine their total earned hours.
In business, the term "earned hours" refers to the number of hours an employee works. An employee's earned hours are used to determine how much the employee should be paid and to assess earned benefits.