[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-587568-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-587568-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","excessive-credit-hours-at-graduation","Excessive Credit Hours at Graduation","","The study examines excessive credit hours earned at graduation by undergraduate students in the Utah System of Higher Education. Using the 2020–21 academic year degree completions, it compares hours reported at graduation against the required minimum hours for associate and bachelor programs. The analysis addresses data reporting issues by using only the highest award level per student-term, excludes cases where earned hours are below required, and analyzes transfer status and major change patterns to explain when and why students accumulate more credits than necessary.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/excessive-credit-hours-at-graduation/587568/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/excessive-credit-hours-at-graduation/587568.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"นรินทร์","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-05","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What problem does the study address about graduation credit hours?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The study addresses why students often earn more credit hours than the minimum required to complete their degrees, and how these excessive hours compare to required program hours at graduation.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the methodology handle students with multiple award levels in the same term?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It examines only the highest award level earned within a single academic term to avoid duplicate or misleading credit-hour reporting across associate and bachelor records.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Which variables are included to analyze credit-hour excess?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The analysis includes transfer status and a measure of how many programs (majors) each student declared prior to graduation, using 2-digit CIP family 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Credit Hours at Graduation  \nIntroduction  \nA typical bachelor’s degree within the Utah System of Higher Education requires 120 credit hours while atypical associate degree requires 60. Ifa student enrolls in 15 credit hours per semester, it would take them a total of eight semesters to complete 120 credit hours for a bachelor’s degree and four semesters to complete 60 credit hours for an associate. Assuming a student is enrolled for two semesters per year, they would be able to complete a typical associate degree program in two years and a typical bachelor’s degree program in four.  \nUnfortunately, students frequently earn credit hours in excess of the required minimum hours to complete their degree. This can occur for a variety of reasons–students changing their major, transfer credits not counting towards the degree’s requirements, students taking personal interest courses unrelated to their program of study, etc. The present study compares the number of excessive credit hours students have earned at graduation to the hours required for their degree.  \nMethodology  \nUndergraduate degrees, associate and bachelor’s degrees, earned from USHE institutions during the 2020-21 academic year were examined. Due to how USHE’s degree-granting institutions report their completions data, students with multiple award levels in the same term often have the same number of reported hours at graduation. For example, a student who received both an associate and a bachelor’s degree within the same term could have 120 earned credit hours reported for both graduation records. That number of credit hours would be expected for bachelor’s degree records, but the associate degree record would list 120 earned hours for a program requiring 60 credit hours. Thus, for the purposes of this study only the highest award level earned within a single academic term is examined. In cases where multiple degrees were earned in the same term at the same award level, all degrees were included (e.g. students who earned two bachelor’s degrees in spring 2021 had both awards included in this analysis) . A total of 34,716 undergraduate degrees (15,812 associate and 18,904 bachelor’s) were awarded to 31,923 students by USHE institutions in the 2020-21 academic year. After accounting for multiple degree levels awarded to an individual student in the same term and excluding degrees where the reported earned hours were less than the reported required hours, a total of 32,894 degrees (14,342 associate and 18,552  \nbachelor’s) awarded to 31,317 distinct students were included in this analysis. Tables 1 and 2 provide more detail:  \nTable 1: All 2021 USHE Undergraduate Degrees and Unduplicated Graduate Headcount by Institution and Award Level  \n\n|  | Associate |  | Bachelor's |  | Total Unduplicated |  |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Institution | Awards | Graduates | Awards | Graduates | Awards | Graduates |\n| DSU | 781 | 779 | 1,090 | 1,085 | 1,871 | 1,849 |\n| SLCC | 3,436 | 3,184 |  |  | 3,436 | 3,184 |\n| SNOW | 1,019 | 981 | 29 | 29 | 1,048 | 988 |\n| SUU | 756 | 751 | 1,311 | 1,311 | 2,067 | 1,991 |\n| USU | 1,203 | 1,182 | 4,341 | 4,142 | 5,544 | 5,269 |\n| UU |  |  | 5,437 | 5,027 | 5,437 | 5,027 |\n| UVU | 5,538 | 5,422 | 3,996 | 3,975 | 9,534 | 8,366 |\n| WSU | 3,079 | 2,986 | 2,700 | 2,641 | 5,779 | 5,249 |\n| Grand Total | 15,812 | 15,285 | 18,904 | 18,210 | 34,716 | 31,923 |\n\nTable 2: 2021 USHE Undergraduate Degrees and Unduplicated Graduate Headcount by Institution and Highest Award Level Earned  \n\n|  | Associate |  | Bachelor's |  | Total Unduplicated |  |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Institution | Awards | Graduates | Awards | Graduates | Awards | Graduates |\n| DSU | 767 | 765 | 1,088 | 1,083 | 1,855 | 1,841 |\n| SLCC | 3,378 | 3,128 |  |  | 3,378 | 3,128 |\n| SNOW | 915 | 877 | 29 | 29 | 944 | 905 |\n| SUU | 733 | 730 | 1,311 | 1,311 | 2,044 | 1,988 |\n| USU | 1,158 | 1,137 | 4,326 | 4,128 | 5,484 | 5,","cbCaifgy0cUe6aCs","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifgy0cUe6aCs","pdf",387156,13,"English","# Introduction\n# Methodology\n## Data selection and degree-level handling\n## Variables: transfer status and major changes\n# Results","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the study address about graduation credit hours?\",\"answer\":\"The study addresses why students often earn more credit hours than the minimum required to complete their degrees, and how these excessive hours compare to required program hours at graduation.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the methodology handle students with multiple award levels in the same term?\",\"answer\":\"It examines only the highest award level earned within a single academic term to avoid duplicate or misleading credit-hour reporting across associate and bachelor records.\"},{\"question\":\"Which variables are included to analyze credit-hour excess?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis includes transfer status and a measure of how many programs (majors) each student declared prior to graduation, using 2-digit CIP family definitions.\"}]","Excessive Credit Hours at Graduation | PDF",1792062179,33]