Credit Hour Policy
Manhattanville College complies with Federal (U.S. Department of Education) and Middle States Commission of Higher Education (MSCHE) regulations pertaining to degree requirements and credit hours. Manhattanville College undergraduate degrees require the successful completion of a minimum of 120 semester credit hours. The MFA degree in the School of Arts and Sciences is a 36 credit program. Master of Arts in Teaching and Masters of Professional Studies range from 35 to 49 credits, depending on the certificate or certificates that they may lead to. Advanced certificate programs leading to a college recommendation for certification, including the Professional Diploma in Education Leadership, range from 11 to 36 credits. The Master of Education Studies, not leading to certification, is a 30 credit program. The Doctor of Education program is a 59-credit program. All graduate programs in the School of Business are 36 credits, with the exception of the MS in Business Leadership, which is 39 credits.
Manhattanville’s academic year is separated into fall, spring and summer semesters for traditional undergraduate programs offered by the School of Arts and Sciences. The Fall and Spring semester are fifteen weeks in length. Our accelerated undergraduate degree completion program, offered through the Manhattanville School of Business, works on seven week semesters. SOE semesters are separated into fall, winter, spring, and summer. Classes run for fifteen weeks in the Fall and Spring, and begin a week after the School of Arts and Sciences commence in the Fall semester. Summer classes generally run between five and ten weeks. The Winter semester runs three weeks. All formats, including traditional semester-length classes and the accelerated and summer formats, must comply with the university credit hour policy.
All new courses are vetted by the appropriate curriculum committees (School of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, School of Business) to ensure requirements meet with credit hour regulations. In addition, existing courses are reviewed periodically by the School Deans, Office of the Registrar, and assessment committees to ensure that the work load is consistent with the potential credits to be earned.
Background
The U.S. Department of Education, at 34 CFR Section 600.2, defines “credit hour” as:
“…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 or trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time; or,
(2) at least an equivalent amount of work as required in paragraph (1) of this definition for other academic activities as established by the institution, including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.”
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, in its Credit Hour Policy, effective August 23, 2013, requires institutions to verify compliance with Credit Hour regulations.