This is the result of an inquiry into the average number of semester credit hours undergraduates earn at the time of their graduation. The objective was to determine whether University of Texas students were earning significantly more hours than necessary for the completion of their degree programs. This investigation is related to the larger issue of campus overcrowding and the amount of time students are taking to earn their degrees. The Data Tables 1 and 2 illustrate the degrees granted by the University of Texas for the calendar years 1998 and 1999.
N refers to the number of students earning each degree.
M refers to the mean hours earned by the students at the time of graduation. Table 1 includes all degrees earned by all students. Table 2 purges those students who earned more than one degree. This does not appear to be the case as the difference between means in Tables 1 and 2 is only approximately two semester hours.