Non-Standard Course Scheduling

The University of Miami publishes standard class times on the University's Registrar's Office for undegraduate and Graduate School courses. These are specifically designed to meet federal credit hour requirements in alignment with the academic calendar for each term/session. Non-standard courses need to follow the guidelines on this webpage to meet the minimum credit hour requirements.

To meet federal credit hour requirements, non-standard courses that meet longer than 90 minutes need to allow a 15-minute break for every 90 minutes of class time. The tool below calculates how much total class time, in-class time, required break time, and out-of-class time is required based on the following:

  • The number of credit hours awarded for the course;
  • The number of class meetings:
    • How often/many days in the entire term or session does the course meet (excluding final exam period)?
  • Whether or not the course will use final exam period:
    • Does the course end in the last week of classes or is there a final exam or other assignment due in final exam period?
    • NOTE: Please remember that UM policy requires a 2.5 hour seated exam during final exam period or a 3-hour take home exam, or an equivalent final assignment.
  • The percent of total hours for the credit hours awarded will be met by in-class or direct instruction:
    • Traditional courses meet for 33% of total hours required (this is the default response)
    • Certain types of courses may have a different ratio of class-time to out-of-class time expected such as internships, labs, directed readings, etc.

Online and Hybrid Courses

For distance education courses, class-time can refer to synchronous class-time or other instructional activities actively facilitated by the course instructor or field supervisor and planned with educational purpose/outcomes.

Short-Term and Intensive Courses

For courses offered in a short-term and/or intensive format, please pay special attention the the out-of-class hours of student work required. The number of hours per day spent in class and expected hours of out-of-class work per day based on the duration of the course must be reasonable (for example, not more than 12 hours per day total in-class and out-of-class work). 

Undergraduate Laboratory and Studios

Please note the following from the University's credit hour policy: Two or three laboratory hours each week throughout a semester are considered the equivalent of one lecture hour in counting credit hours earned in an undergraduate laboratory or studio course.

For this reason, you must calculate credits for laboratory or studio courses manually rather than using this tool. Contact the University Registrar's office for assistance.

Using the Tool

The tool below is designed to be used for any term or session, in any year. Before using it, please refer to the academic calendar and compare it to your Outlook (or other annual) calendar to calculate how many class meetings will be held. Please remember that classes cannot meet on designated holidays, readings days, final exam days, or after the last day of class. (If you are planning a course that does not follow the academic calendar, please contact Course Scheduling in the University Registrar's Office.)

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