Understanding Summer (Non-Standard & Accelerated) Enrollments
& The Calculation of Training Times
Introduction
For veterans' and certain veterans' dependents educational assistance benefits purposes the Summer Semester is a non-standard accelerated term. As such, a student's training time is not determined by the total number of hours certified for the term as in the Fall and Spring semesters and training times depend upon the number of hours certified and the session(s) in which the course(s) is offered. Depending upon the complexity of the enrollment, training times may change several times during the Summer Semester.
The Sessions
The majority of courses are offered during Sessions I and II. A minimum of four semester hours in each primary term (Sessions I and II) is equivalent to full-time. Therefore, in order to maintain a full-time training status for the Summer Semester, then a student must enroll in at least four certifiable semester hours during each of the primary terms. A more complicated enrollment with course(s) overlapping different sessions may not be as clear.
Every course and corresponding course number are listed in the Summer Schedule of Classes under the session in which it is offered. The six sessions are and relate to each each other as follows:
The Summer Semester
Using the Course Section Number to Identify the Session
Every course number has a three-digit section number suffix wherein the last two digits identify the session(s) in which the course is offered.
|
Session
Name |
Course
Section
Numbers |
Course
Length
(Weeks) |
Inclusive
Session(s) |
|
Pre-Summer
|
X01
- X09
|
Three
(3)
|
Pre-Summer
|
|
Pre-Summer
+ Session I
|
X70
- X79
|
Eight
(8)
|
Pre-Summer
+ Session I
|
|
Complete
Session
|
X80
- X89
|
Thirteen
(13)
|
Pre-Summer
+ Sessions I & II
|
|
Session
I
|
X10
- X49
|
Five
(5)
|
Session
I
|
|
Dual
Session
|
X90
- X99
|
Ten
(10)
|
Sessions
I & II
|
|
Session
II
|
X50
- X69
|
Five
(5)
|
Session
II
|
Example: MATH 1000-010
is offered during Session I.
"MATH" = Course Prefix "1000" =
Course Number "010" = Section Number
The last two digits in the section number suffix are "10".
From the table above "10" indicates the course is offered
during Session I.
Calculation of Training Time
The following
chart will aid in determining the semester hour equivalency training
times:
Semester
Hour Equivalency Table
for Non-Standard Semesters
|
Semester
Hour(s) Term Length (Weeks) |
10
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
14
|
12.9
|
11.6
|
10.3
|
9.0
|
7.7
|
6.4
|
5.1
|
3.9
|
2.6
|
1.3
|
|
13
|
|
12.5
|
11.0
|
9.7
|
8.3
|
6.9
|
5.5
|
4.2
|
2.8
|
1.4
|
|
12
|
|
12.0
|
10.5
|
9.0
|
7.5
|
6.0
|
4.5
|
3.0
|
1.5
|
|
|
11
|
|
13.1
|
11.5
|
9.8
|
8.2
|
6.5
|
4.9
|
3.3
|
1.6
|
|
|
10
|
|
12.6
|
10.8
|
9.0
|
7.2
|
5.4
|
3.6
|
1.8
|
||
|
9
|
|
12.0
|
10.0
|
8.0
|
6.0
|
4.0
|
2.0
|
|||
|
8
|
|
13.5
|
11.2
|
9.0
|
6.7
|
4.5
|
2.3
|
|||
|
7
|
|
12.9
|
10.3
|
7.7
|
5.1
|
2.6
|
||||
|
6
|
|
12.0
|
9.0
|
6.0
|
3.0
|
|||||
|
5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14.4
|
10.8
|
7.2
|
3.6
|
|
4
|
13.5
|
9.0
|
4.5
|
|||||||
|
3
|
12.0
|
6.0
|
(The above table is color coded to undergraduate hours only)
|
Full-Time
|
Three-Quarter
Time |
Half-Time
|
Less
Than
Half-Time |
|
| Undergraduate Hours | 12 or more* | 9-11* | 6-8* | Less than 6* |
| Graduate Hours | 9 or more* | 6-8* | 3-5* | Less than 3* |
*Certifiable; graduate students enrolled in essential undergraduate courses will be reported (and paid) as taking undergraduate courses and as such undergraduate training times apply |
||||
Example Calculation of Training Times
A student is enrolled in the following classes:
|
Session
I
|
3
Semester Hours
|
|
Session
II
|
3
Semester Hours
|
|
Dual
Session
|
2
Semester Hours
|
The Session I and II terms are each five weeks long. Using the chart, semester three hours of enrollment across five weeks has a semester hour equivalency of 10.8. The Dual Session enrollment constitutes 3.6 semester hours. Therefore, in this example, the overall training time is 14.4 semester hours which equivalent to full-time since it is more than the 12 hours required for full time. This example assumes that all 8 summer semester hours are certifiable hours.
As a general rule, treat each session separately and combine training times to arrive at the training times during the summer semester.
While it may appear that a student does not have to take as many hours to maintain a certain training time, remember the courses are accelerated and a student will have the same number of contact hours as in a standard semester.