Academic Credit

Academic credit or units are interchangeable terms that are used to assign a value to each college class you take. The number of credits for each class is different and is determined by the University based on the number of hours you spend in the classroom each week. In order to graduate from a U.S. University, a student must earn a pre-determined amount of credits by that University before they are awarded a degree. There are also rules or policies set by a University that set limits on how many credits you can take in one semester. As a general rule, you need 15 or 16 credits each semester to finish an undergraduate degree in four years.