<p>When course loads are measured in credit hours (e.g. 15 credit hours per semester), the nominal workload is 3 hours per credit per week, including both in-class and out-of-class time. So a 15 credit course load is supposed to be 45 hours of work per week.</p>
<p>Actual workloads have been declining over the years, so current workloads are probably more like 2 to 2.5 hours per credit per week (30 to 37.5 hours per week for a 15 credit course load). There is variation by course; courses with labs, term projects, art studio, music performance, computer programming, and other time hog aspects can take more time than other courses with the same number of credits.</p>