For example, if the Fall Semester is scheduled to end before the winter break, is may be about fifteen weeks in length while the Spring Semester, beginning the second week in January, may last one or two weeks longer. Yet, the amount of academic material to be covered and the credits earned are counted the same for work completed in either term. That is, the number of hours spent in the classroom per week, usually three or four for one class on the semester system, indicates the credit value of the class. A course which awards three credits indicates that it requires three hours of class attendance per week. An undergraduate student carrying a full load earns about thirty semester-hour credits a year, which is four to five classes per semester.
Graduate students carry a full load of three classes per semester.
A full-time student, then, can count on spending some sixty hours per week on his studies. Sandra Rodriguez, International Student Advisor.