Why is the max. credits you can take without being charged extra

worried_mom
Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:25:46 +0000

Every college sets a limit on the number of credits that can be taken each semester without paying extra tuition. Otherwise, some students would try to load up on courses each term in order to reduce the amount of time – and the amount of tuition to be paid – before receiving their degree. Where BC’s policy is different from most other schools is that it focuses on the number of courses rather than the number of credits.



Undergraduate Full-Time Enrollment Status

The usual program for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors is five courses worth a minimum of three credits each per semester and four or five courses each semester for seniors. University policy states that undergraduate students must be registered for at least four 3-credit courses per semester.



So the full-time load for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors is a nominal 15 credits per semester. However, that doesn’t count special one-credit courses like the Freshman Topic Seminars (in A&S), and some classes, particularly many of the lab sciences, are four credits. So anywhere between 15 and 17-18 credits (if you take a few 4-credit classes, for example) is “normal.”



Overloads

Students who have earned in a full course load at least a 3.0 overall average or a 3.0 average in the semester immediately prior to the one for which the overload is sought may register for a sixth course.

Students whose averages are between 2.0 and 3.0 may, under exceptional circumstances, be allowed by an associate dean to enroll in a sixth course. Students are not permitted to take a sixth course in their first semester at Boston College.

Overload courses taken for acceleration will carry an extra tuition charge. This includes fifth courses taken during senior year.



So depending on the particular classes, a student could theoretically take as many as 24 credits a semester (if they wanted to kill themselves with six 4-credit courses!) without paying extra tuition – provided they were doing it to double major or pick up a minor, etc. rather than trying to graduate early.

The key is six courses per semester, not the number of credits.