South Dakota college students are hearing a push for 15 to Finish. That’s 15 credit hours per semester, which allows a student to complete an undergraduate degree in four years.
Last year, South Dakota’s Board of Regents lowered the number of credit hours to get a degree. Jack Warner is president of the South Dakota Board of Regents. He says a student used to need 128 credits for an undergraduate degree and 64 for an associate’s degree.
"So we have reduced the number of required credits to the degree to 120 for a bachelor’s degree and 60 for an associate," Warner says. "This is much closer to the national average and results in a savings for the total degree of about $2000."
Warner says that means all state university students could successfully take about five classes each semester to graduate on time. He says fewer college students are finishing undergraduate degrees in four consecutive years now than in past decades.