Credit and Grade System
The scholastic year is normally divided into 2 semesters—fall and spring— of 15 instructional weeks plus a week of final exams with 150 minutes scheduled for each course. A class hour is 50 minutes of lecture, seminar, or recitation, or 110 minutes of laboratory work. The number of meetings per week and the corresponding credit in semester hours are indicated in the class schedule. Experiential learning opportunities that take place during winter break are included as part of the spring term for academic, financial aid, and tuition purposes. Carroll also offers an optional summer term, divided into different sessions; there is a special summer tuition rate that is charged in addition to academic year tuition.
The unit of academic credit is the semester hour. Ordinarily, a semester hour represents the work of 50 minutes of class meeting once weekly and requiring approximately 2 hours of preparation. Thus, a class which meets 100 minutes weekly carries 2 hours of credit; 150 minutes weekly, 3 credits; etc. One laboratory period (two to three hours) is equivalent to one class meeting. The minimum passing grade required before a student can receive credit is “D.”