Academic Procedures:Undergraduate Student Loads

The university year is divided into two long semesters, two summer sessions, and multiple mini sessions.

Regular Session

Regular sessions consist of fall and spring terms, which run for sixteen weeks each.

Exclusive of physical activity courses, twelve hours is considered by the institution as a full-time load (Procedure A11.20). However, to graduate in four years, it is recommended students enroll in 15 hours each semester or complete coursework in the summer. Many scholarships specify enrollment in 15 semester hours.

Appropriate administrative staff will use the following guidelines for approving exceptions to the above:

• Any student enrolled for student teaching will be limited to a maximum of 15 semester hours.
• An undergraduate student who wishes to enroll for more than 19 hours must have the approval of his or her academic dean before adding the courses. Any student who exceeds the normal load by adding additional course(s) and does not have the appropriate academic dean's approval will be automatically dropped from that course and notified of this action by the dean. Students may request dean approval by submitting the Undergraduate Petition for Overload.
• Students required to enroll in university-designated developmental reading, composition or mathematics in any long semester will be restricted to a 14-hour course load, approved by the academic advisor. All approvals for overloads are obtained from the dean of the college in which the student is majoring.

Summer Session

Summer sessions consist of summer I and summer II. The majority of summer courses run for five weeks each; however, a select number of summer I courses may run for ten weeks.

Six semester hours, exclusive of physical education activity, is the normal student load for each summer term. With the exception of the competency based programs, a student may not enroll for two subterm courses simultaneously within the same subterm.

An undergraduate student may schedule one semester hour above the normal load each summer term.

An undergraduate student lacking 15 semester hours to graduate at the end of that summer and who has an overall “C” (2.00) average may schedule nine semester hours one term with dean's approval.

Freshmen admitted provisionally will be limited to ten semester hours for the entire summer.

An undergraduate student who lacks 30 semester hours to graduate in December may schedule nine semester hours during one summer term only if the fall schedule would include student teaching and if the student has an overall “C” (2.00) average.

A last semester senior who lacks 12 hours or fewer to graduate at the end of the summer and who has an overall “C” (2.00) average may schedule nine semester hours one term with the appropriate dean's approval.

Any student who exceeds the normal load by adding an additional course(s) and does not have the appropriate academic dean's approval will be automatically dropped from the course and notified of this action.

For scholastic probation details, see Scholastic Probation and Suspension.

All approvals for overloads are obtained from the dean of the college in which the student is majoring.

Mini Session

A select number of mini sessions may be offered as a May Mini, August Mini or Winter Mini. These course typically run for three weeks. As such, any student registering for classes during the mini term should be aware of the accelerated nature of the class. The maximum load for a mini-term is three hours.