Credit Load (full-time and part-time status)

On this page:

• Full-time vs part-time status

• Recommended credit load

Full-time vs part-time status 

LSA does not require students to be enrolled full-time, but it may be required for financial aid, auto insurance, or health insurance. 

Students are considered full-time when they have:

• 12 to 18 credits (in a full term)

• 6 to 9 credits (in a half term)

Students are considered part-time when they have:

• 11 or fewer credits (in a full term)

• 5 or fewer credits (in a half term)

Students who wish to take more than 18 credits in a full term (or 9 in a half term) can see Credit Overload for more information. 

Tuition rates vary depending on full-time or part-time enrollment. 

Recommended credit load

We recommend aiming for about 15 credits per term (or 30 per year) to stay on track for graduation. 

• Most programs require 120 credits to graduate. If you divide 120 by 4 years, that's 30 per year or about 15 per term. 

• The cost of tuition is exactly the same for 12 and 18 credits, so students can get more credits for the same price.

• U-M researchers looked at many different groups of students and found that every group benefited from taking about 15 credits (versus fewer) in their first 2 terms.