Credit Hours & Program Requirements

Credit Hours

Each course that you take at HACC will have a number of credit hours, or credits, associated with it.  In a sense, this term is a measurement that determines the relative amount of time you may spend working in a course as well as how much the course will cost in tuition.  Specifically, there is an expectation that a minimum of three hours of student work each week during the term will be devoted for each credit.  The higher the number of credits, the more time you will likely have to devote to the course.  At HACC, tuition is calculated on the basis of each credit.  A majority of HACC courses are three credits.

Full-time students will usually take at least 12 credits in a fall or spring term (also called a semester), with 15 credits being a number needed in most cases if a student wants to graduate with an associate degree in two years.

Program Requirements

As a HACC student, you will be taking classes as part of an academic program (many times also called a major).  There are several different types of programs at the college that each have a unique focus.

Associate Degrees often total 60-65 credits and are designed either for transfer to a four-year institution or to prepare students to enter the workforce in a particular field.  Depending on the program, students can earn an Associate in Arts (AA), Associate in Science (AS), Associate in Fine Arts (AFA), and Associate in Applied Science (AAS).  In most cases, the AA, AS, and AFA degrees are designed for transfer while the AAS degree is focused on direct employment after graduation.  Associate degrees include both courses specific to a program of study as well as general education and core knowledge courses.  These courses help provide students with an established baseline and common body of knowledge and skills in areas such as writing, oral communication, technology literacy, cultural awareness and quantitative literacy (often math).  These courses are important both for transfer students and for furthering the “soft skills” that employers desire while exposing students to areas such as science, the humanities and the social/behavioral sciences.

HACC also offers Certificate and Diploma programs.  These are generally more focused on technical career fields and involve fewer credits (30 in the case of certificates and 16 in the case of diplomas).  In some cases, students can earn a certificate on their path to an associate degree.