Tons of parents want to know how much time they should carve out of their school day for a college class. I have prepared a chart for online classes and on-campus classes that will help you get a good idea before you enroll.
All colleges that offer courses for college credit are accountable to their accrediting body, and those policies dictate roughly how much “time” the student needs to spend to “earn” a college credit.
Because of that basic requirement, the length of class (5 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks) doesn’t change how much credit your student earns, but it DRAMATICALLY determines how many hours each week your student can expect to spend on the class.
If you understand this basic idea, you’ll be able to make a simple schedule that sets your student up for success.
Once upon a time, college classes were pretty much 16 weeks long and required physically going to campus. With the rise of online learning, traveling to campus and listening to a lecture are no longer the standard. We now have access to recorded lectures (played on 1.5x) or in some cases, no lectures at all. This puts much of the “time” required directly on the student- even when the college has computed it differently.
In our family’s homeschool, I found some of my sons preferred working quickly online. They were fast typists, fast readers, and didn’t care for the “fluff” of going to campus or participating in class. My other sons were slow typers, needed to read and re-read assignments, and loved the hands-on component of on-campus labs. Your students will have their own strengths and weaknesses, so use these tables as guides, and then adjust for your student’s specific skills.
For the chart below, look at the length of the class you’re considering (5, 8, 12, 16 weeks) and then find how many credits it is. The number shown is the approximate number of hours per week you, as a student, will need to have available to work on the class. (if it’s less: yeah!) If you do school 5 days per week, divide that number by 5 to figure out how much work each day will be required.
Chart 1: Online classes
No required seat time. All hours are flexible study and coursework. The number given is the “hours per week” you’ll need to have available for your student to work on the class.
| Credits | Total hours | 5 weeks | 8 weeks | 12 weeks | 16 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 credits | 180 hrs | 36 | 22.5 | 15 | 11.3 |
| 3 credits | 135 hrs | 27 | 16.9 | 11.3 | 8.4 |
| 1 credit | 45 hrs | 9 | 5.6 | 3.8 | 2.8 |
Chart 2: In-person classes
Some hours are required in the seat; the rest are outside work. The number given is the “hours per week” you’ll need to have available for your student to work on the class.
| Credits | Type of hours | 5 weeks | 8 weeks | 12 weeks | 16 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 credits | In the seat | 12 | 7.5 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Outside work | 24 | 15 | 10 | 7.5 | |
| Total | 36 | 22.5 | 15 | 11.3 | |
| 3 credits | In the seat | 9 | 5.6 | 3.8 | 2.8 |
| Outside work | 18 | 11.3 | 7.5 | 5.6 | |
| Total | 27 | 16.9 | 11.3 | 8.4 | |
| 1 credit | In the seat | 3 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Outside work | 6 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 1.9 | |
| Total | 9 | 5.6 | 3.8 | 2.8 |
