Small classes allow faculty to enjoy a lively interaction with students. And these stimulating exchanges extend beyond the classroom, laboratory, or studio to informal visits in their offices, at home, or by telephone. Principia is on the quarter system. Course credit is measured in quarter hours. The number of quarter hours assigned to a course is typically the number of hours spent in a class each week.
Most classes meet five hours a week, and enrolled students earn five quarter hours of credit.
Students spend about two hours studying for each hour spent in class. A normal academic load is fifteen quarter hours per quarter, which allows a student to complete the required 180 quarter hours in four years. To be considered a full-time student, a student must carry a minimum of twelve quarter hours per quarter. College students are expected to be fully conversant with this catalog and are responsible for their own registration. This means that students need to come to the Registrar's Office at the proper time to submit registration cards for all courses for which they wish to register.