Credit Hours

The unit of credit used at Missouri State University-West Plains is the semester hour. The university follows the semester system in which the academic year is divided into two instructional semesters with each having 15 weeks of instruction plus a final examination period. Additional instructional periods such as summer, intersession, blocks, sessions, short and extended class periods are offered.

Due to Federal regulations promulgated by the US Department of Education, the Higher Learning Commission requires institutions to document how they determine in-class and out-of-class time equivalencies for distance courses and therefore document how credit hours for distance courses are determined. Missouri State University-West Plains’s assignment and award of credit hours shall conform to commonly-accepted practices in higher education and with the federal definition of the credit hour.

Federal Credit Hour Definition: A credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally-established equivalency that reasonably approximates not less than:

(1) one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester