Credit	or	Clock	Hours	in	an	Academic	Year
For	undergraduate	educational	programs,	the	law	and	regulations	set	the	following	minimum	standards	for	coursework
earned	by	a	full-time	student	in	an	academic	year:
For	a	program	measured	in	credit	hours,	24	semester	or	trimester	credit	hours	or	36	quarter	credit	hours;	or
For	a	program	measured	in	clock	hours,	900	clock	hours.
For	graduate	and	professional	programs,	there	is	no	minimum	number	of	hours	in	an	academic	year.
Academic	Year	Definition	and	Effect	on	Awards
The	Title	IV	academic	year	that	a	school	defines	for	a	program	must	meet	the	regulatory	minimums	for	both	clock	or
credit	hours	and	weeks	of	instructional	time,	as	described	above.	In	some	instances,	the	defined	academic	year	for	a
program	may	not	coincide	with	the	academic	calendar	of	the	school.	For	example,	a	school	might	define	the	academic
year	for	a	program	as	containing	24	semester	hours	and	30	weeks	of	instructional	time	but	have	an	academic	calendar
consisting	of	four	8-week	nonstandard	terms	(i.e.,	32	weeks	of	instructional	time).	This	would	affect	the	calculation	of	Pell
Grant	awards,	as	explained	in	Volume	7.
As	discussed	later	in	this	chapter	and	in	Volume	8,	Chapter	6,	the	timing	of	disbursements	and,	for	the	Direct	Loan
Program,	annual	loan	limit	progression	will	be	affected	if	a	program	is	an	academic	year	in	length	in	credit	or	clock	hours
but	not	in	weeks	of	instructional	time,	or	for	a	program	longer	than	an	academic	year	in	length,	if	a	student9s	completion
of	the	credit	or	clock	hours	in	the	program9s	academic	year	does	not	coincide	with	completion	of	the	weeks	of
instructional	time	in	the	academic	year.
Academic	Calendars	and	Terms
Schools	offer	programs	with	many	kinds	of	academic	calendars	that	differ	from	the	traditional	fall-spring	school	year.	For
the	
Title	IV	programs,	academic	calendars	may	be	one	of	the	following	types:
standard	term,
nonstandard	term,
The	calendar	graphic	below	illustrates	how	a	school	would	count	weeks	of	instructional	time	in	a	standard
semester	term	during	which	classes	are	held	Monday	through	Friday.	In	this	hypothetical	term	(the	example	is	not
meant	to	illustrate	any	specific	calendar	year)	classes	begin	on	Monday,	August	23rd,	and	end	on	Friday,
December	10th,	with	examinations	held	December	13th-17th.
The	circles	indicate	the	points	at	which	each	of	the	17	weeks	of	instructional	time	begin.
There	are	no	classes	on	Labor	Day	(September	6th),	Veterans	Day	(November	11th),	or	during	Thanksgiving
break	(November	24th-26th),	but	each	week	that	includes	these	dates	still	counts	as	a	week	of	instructional	time
since	each	includes	at	least	one	day	of	regularly	scheduled	instruction.	The	week	of	exams	that	begins	on
December	13th	also	counts	as	a	week	of	instructional	time.
If	a	week	in	the	term	has	no	days	of	instruction,	examination,	or	(after	the	last	day	of	classes)	study	for
examination,	that	week	does	not	count	as	a	week	of	instructional	time.	For	example,	a	week	consisting	only	of
vacation	days	is	not	a	week	of	instructional	time.
{"producer": "GPL Ghostscript 10.00.0", "creator": "wkhtmltopdf 0.12.6", "creationdate": "D:20250418120630Z00'00'", "moddate": "D:20250418120630Z00'00'", "source": "data/raw/Academic_Calenders_Cost_of_Attendance_and_Packaging.pdf", "total_pages": 57, "page": 3, "page_label": "4", "loader_type": "pdf", "load_timestamp": "2025-07-05T11:43:14.400157"}