A contact hour is time you actually spend in class with an instructor, in a lecture or a lab. A credit hour is the unit a college puts on your transcript for a course, and it is earned by accumulating contact hours over a term: in the United States, one semester credit hour is 15 to 16 contact hours per semester, and federal rules require at least 30 clock hours of instruction per semester hour (20 per quarter hour) where clock-hour conversion applies.
So a typical three-credit course is 45 to 48 contact hours, which is why it meets for about three hours a week across a fifteen-week semester.
Credit Hours vs Contact Hours at a Glance
| Feature | Credit hours | Contact hours |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Academic credit awarded for a course | Time in class with the instructor |
| Counted | Per term (one number per course) | Per week or per term (actual hours) |
| Typical course | 3 semester credit hours | 45 to 48 contact hours per semester (about 3 a week) |
| Federal minimum (clock-hour conversion) | 1 semester hour | 30 clock hours of instruction |
| Federal minimum (quarter system) | 1 quarter hour | 20 clock hours of instruction |
| Includes homework? | Yes, in effect: about 2 hours of out-of-class work per class hour | No |
| Where you see it | Transcripts, degree requirements, tuition bills | Course schedules, accreditation and licensing rules |
What Is a Credit Hour?
A credit hour, usually called a semester credit hour (SCH) at schools on the semester calendar, is the unit of academic credit a course carries. The Federal Student Aid Handbook defines it as an amount of work that reasonably approximates not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class 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. Full-time study is usually 15 credit hours per semester, or 30 per academic year, and part-time students taking fewer than 12 hours generally pay per credit hour.
What Is a Contact Hour?
A contact hour is any lecture or lab time when the professor is teaching or coaching the student, as opposed to homework, which is time spent applying the material without supervision. Colleges award credit hours based on the number of contact hours per week for one term: depending on the state, a semester credit hour is 15 to 16 contact hours. The Code of Federal Regulations sets the floor for programs that must convert credit to clock hours: a semester or trimester hour must include at least 30 clock hours of instruction, and a quarter hour at least 20.
Why People Mix Them Up
- Both are called “hours”. A three-credit-hour course really does meet about three hours a week, so the two numbers look interchangeable for lectures.
- They diverge in labs and studios. Credit for laboratory, studio and physical education courses, internships and practica is usually less than for lectures, typically one credit for every two to three hours spent in the lab or studio. A lab can be four contact hours a week but only one credit hour.
- Field placements. A student teacher may work 40 hours a week for a semester but earn only 8 to 10 credits.
How to Tell Which Number You Need
- Checking degree progress, financial aid or tuition: credit hours. Full-time status, flat-rate tuition and graduation requirements are all counted in credit hours.
- Planning your weekly schedule: contact hours, plus the roughly two hours of homework expected for each hour in class.
- Professional licensing or continuing education: contact hours, because licensing boards usually count instructional time rather than academic credit.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is a credit hour the same as a contact hour? No. A credit hour is academic credit for a course; a contact hour is one hour of instruction. One semester credit hour represents 15 to 16 contact hours over the term.
- How many contact hours is a 3-credit class? About 45 to 48 over a semester, or roughly three hours a week.
- How many credit hours is full-time? Usually 15 per semester, and at least 12 to be counted as full-time.
- Do contact hours include homework? No. Homework is unsupervised study, and students are generally expected to do about two hours of it for each hour in class.