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Texas Tech University is in compliance with
Federal Requirement 4.4.
The minimum requirement for a baccalaureate
degree at Texas Tech University is 120 semester hours of credit
(http://www.depts.ttu.edu/officialpublications/catalog/Academics.html).
This standard is based on a normal full schedule of 15 hours per
semester taken over a period of 8 semesters (four academic
years). This requirement is consistent with baccalaureate
programs at most universities in the United States. Some
programs require more than 120 hours of credit for graduation.
Most of these are Bachelor of Science or professional programs.
The university initiated the “Graduate on Time” program in fall
2004. Under this program, students in programs that require
between 120 and 128 hours for graduation may sign a contract
that guarantees that courses required for graduation will be
available so they can complete the degree in four years
(2004-2005 university catalog,
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/officialpublications/catalog/AcademicsGOT.html).
As part of the GOT initiative, departments and colleges were
requested to justify all undergraduate degree programs that
require more than 128 hours for graduation. As a result, several
programs reduced the number of hours required for students to
graduate.
The minimum for a master’s degree is 30
hours (http://www.depts.ttu.edu/officialpublications/catalog/GRADMasters.html,
look under Basic Plans for the Master’s Degree). The 30 hour
requirement for a master’s degree assumes one year of course
work (12 hours per semester) and one year to complete a master’s
thesis (6 hours of credit). Non-thesis master’s degrees
generally require a minimum of 36 hours of graduate course work
for graduation. This is consistent with master’s level programs
in most universities in Texas and the United States.
There is no absolute minimum number of
hours required for a doctorate, but at least three years of
graduate study beyond the bachelor’s degree is required and as a
general rule, 60 hours of coursework beyond the undergraduate
degree is expected (2004-2005 Texas Tech University Catalog
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/officialpublications/catalog/GRADDoctoral.html).
Master’s degree hours may be counted as part of the 60 semester
hour requirement.
Decisions regarding program credit hour
requirements that exceed the university mandated minimum of 120
hours are made by program faculty. In some cases, additional
credits are required by professional accreditation agencies, in
other cases, requirements for necessary coursework in associated
departments (chemistry and mathematics requirements in
biological sciences, for example) may bring the credit hour
total for graduation above the 120-hour limit.
A list of degree programs, along with the
minimum number of hours required for graduation, is available at:
Undergraduate:
http://www.irim.ttu.edu/SACS/UndergraduateMinimumCreditHours.pdf
Graduate:
http://www.irim.ttu.edu/SACS/GraduateMinimumCreditHours.pdf |
