A new regulation that limits the amount of credit hours for summer classes will take effect this summer. Students who require more hours will need special permission.
The limits are three hours in intersession, six hours in Summer I, six hours in Summer II and 16 overall for the summer. In general, students can only take three hours in two-week sessions, six hours in four-week sessions, nine hours in six-week sessions and 12 hours in eight-week sessions.
Students who need an exception must request it through their advisers. According to Marty Spears, associate provost, exceptions are going to be granted only in rare circumstances in which students have planned well in advance with their academic adviser or when there is no other way for the student to graduate on time.
“We had to take it through the academic committees and talk to the various programs before we could arrive at this plan, which we got approved though the academic process,” Spears said. “The concern was the students’ progress; is it going to slow any students’ progress? And we hope not.”
According to Spears, last summer a total of 864 students took classes during the summer of 2013. He said he recognizes that some academic programs will be more affected than others.
Senior Rachel Dickey, an interdisciplinary major in pre-medicine and ministry, said the new regulation would not affect her directly. However, in past summers she said she took up to 20 hours.
Her husband, Cameron Dickey is a sports and recreational management major, requires a special permission to take 20 hours this summer in order to graduate in December. She recognizes that many new students in similar majors would experience more difficulty to graduate in four years.
In the past, students could take up to 18 hours, and 20 with special permissions during summers.
According to Spears, summers are shorter than spring or fall semesters, and according to new government regulation, it is not physically possible to take more than 16 hours while having enough time for sleep and meals because of the new definition of how much time must be spent on each credit hour.
