Maximum Credit Hour Load

According to State Regents' policy and OSU Academic Regulation 5.2, undergraduate students are allowed to enroll in the number of credit hours each semester that do not result in academic overload. Academic overload is defined as the number of semester-credit-hours 25 percent or more than the number of weeks in the applicable academic term. See the "Graduate College" section of the Catalog for graduate student enrollment information. Students may petition to exceed these limits by completing a Petition to Enroll in Excessive Hours.

Enforcement: For most academic sessions, the registration system prevents students from enrolling in more than the maximum number of credit hours. However, some sessions (including the winter intersession and summer sessions) are monitored manually by the Registrar’s Office. Students who have exceeded the maximum credit hour load will receive notification via their OSU e-mail account, and they must either promptly reduce their course load or submit an approved Petition to Enroll in Excessive Hours.

The information below indicates the maximum number of credit hours in which students can enroll in a given session without a Petition to Enroll in Excessive Hours:

Fall and Spring Regular 16-week Semesters