Credit Hours Calculator
Track the credits you have completed, the ones in progress, and how many are left. See how many semesters remain at your current pace.
From your degree catalogue.
Including transfer credits.
Credits remaining
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Degree progress
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Credits completed
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| Semester | Total credits | Still remaining |
|---|---|---|
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Degree progress is based on credits you have actually completed, not on credits you are currently taking. A semester in progress moves the projection, not the percentage.
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Work out your semester GPA and see how it changes your cumulative GPA across a degree.
How to use this calculator
- Enter the credits your degree requires — it is in your catalogue, and usually 120 for a bachelor's degree.
- Enter the credits you have completed, including any transferred in.
- Add this semester and next if you want the projection. Leave them blank for a snapshot of where you are.
How the calculation works
Progress is what you have finished as a share of what the degree needs. Everything else is addition.
Remaining = credits required − credits completed
Credits in progress are deliberately excluded from the progress percentage. They are not finished, and a semester can still be dropped or failed.
A worked example
A 120-credit degree with 72 credits completed, 15 in progress this semester and 15 planned for next:
- Progress: 72 ÷ 120 = 60%
- Remaining: 120 − 72 = 48 credits
- After this semester: 72 + 15 = 87
- After next semester: 87 + 15 = 102
- Still remaining then: 120 − 102 = 18 credits
At 15 credits a semester, those last 18 credits take two more semesters — the second of which only needs three credits. Seeing that early is often the difference between finishing on time and discovering a stray requirement in your final term.
Credit loads and what they mean
| Credits per semester | Status | Bachelor's degree in |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Part-time | 10 years |
| 12 | Full-time minimum | 5 years |
| 15 | Full-time, on track | 4 years |
| 18 | Heavy load | 3 years 4 months |
Twelve credits is full-time for financial aid purposes, but twelve a semester over eight semesters is only 96 credits — short of a 120-credit degree. The gap between "full-time" and "on track to graduate in four years" catches a lot of students out, and summer courses often exist to close it.
Important notes and limitations
Credits are necessary but not sufficient
Reaching your credit total does not by itself mean you can graduate. Degrees also require specific courses, a minimum in your major, general education requirements and often a minimum GPA. A degree audit from your adviser checks all of those; this checks one.
- Transfer credits usually count toward the total but not toward GPA.
- Repeated courses normally earn their credits once, even where both attempts count toward GPA — see the Retake GPA Calculator.
- Quarter credits are not the same size as semester credits. Most schools convert at two thirds — 90 quarter credits is about 60 semester credits.
- Developmental or remedial courses sometimes carry credits that do not count toward a degree.
- Your degree audit is the authoritative record. This is a planning tool.
Frequently asked questions
How many credits do I need to graduate?
Most US bachelor's degrees require around 120 semester credits and most associate degrees around 60, but the exact number is set by your programme and appears in your catalogue. Majors with heavy requirements — engineering, nursing, education — often run higher.
What counts as full-time?
Twelve credits a semester is the usual undergraduate threshold for full-time status, and it matters for financial aid, insurance and — for international students — visa requirements. Graduating in four years generally needs closer to 15 a semester, which is why the two numbers differ.
Do transfer credits count toward this?
Toward the credit total, usually yes. Toward your GPA, usually no, because the grade was earned elsewhere. Include them in credits completed here, but leave them out of the GPA Calculator.
Why do I have more credits than my degree requires?
It is common. Changing major, transferring, taking electives beyond the minimum, or repeating a course all add credits that do not reduce what is left. Extra credits are not wasted, but they do not shorten the degree.
What is a credit hour?
Roughly one hour of class time a week for a semester, plus expected work outside it — the common guideline is two hours of independent study for each contact hour. A three-credit course therefore means about three hours in class and six outside, every week.
Guides that explain this
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How College Credit Hours Work
What a credit hour represents, full-time and part-time loads, degree progress, and why transfer credits often carry no grade.