Credit Hour Policy

Traditional Lecture and Seminar Courses

Belmont Abbey College uses the Carnegie Unit as the minimum standard for assigning credit hours. One credit hour therefore requires at least 50 minutes of classroom instruction (recitation, lecture, discussion, testing or evaluation, seminar or colloquium) and two hours of student preparation outside the classroom each week for a fifteen-week semester.

Nontraditional Lecture and Seminar Courses

Lecture and seminar courses offered in nontraditional formats require the same competencies and learning outcomes as those offered in a traditional fifteen-week semester and an equivalent of forty-five hours of work for each unit of credit. Students enrolled in nontraditional courses should expect substantial amounts of work outside the classroom to meet the same competencies and learning outcomes as those required in a traditional course.

Online / Hybrid courses

Courses offered in other modes (such as fully online or mixed hybrids of online and seated work) that do not maintain the same number of contact hours award equivalent credit so long as one of the following criteria is met: a. the course covers the same material in the same depth as a seated version of the same course; or, b. the course has been evaluated by the department and by the Program and Curriculum Committee (PRC) for content and rigor, and both the department and the PRC have approved the award of credit. Approval must be received and documented prior to the start of the term in which the course is offered.