[kihun]

so I just finished 11 credits for summer semester and got straight A's.. just a general background, I'm a former Marine who just got out and attending school to finish 4 year college in IT. I'm thinking about doing 18 credits this falls semester. I do not work. What do you guys think? most of the classes are general classes.

[Mr Tonka]

only 18 credit hours.....

Did you say former Marine or former air force???

[RandomHero]

If you do not work, then 18 hours would be very doable in my opinion.

I took 15-16 hours a semester and played baseball all four years of college. Two of those years I also worked 25-30 hours/week.

Of course, it all depends one what your work load is going to look like, and how you can personally manage the classes. Obviously, different universities are harder than others, but short answer, 18 hours is not going to be crazy for someone who doesn't work and is dedicated.

EDIT- It also depends on what types of classes you plan to take. One semester, I took Personal Finance (elective), Finance (BBA specific), and Portfolio Management( Finance major specific). The PM class made the first two ridiculously easy and some of the course work between classes blended together.

[upstatedoc]

ooo-rah!

not working, completely doable. Especially if they are general classes. and the Gov. is paying.

[MediaArtist]

I took 18 with a part-time job as a tutor for 3 courses when I was in school.

But I only did that because I was about $300 away from being homeless every month in college, and wanted to correct that situation ASAP.

[Titanium3er]

You should be fine; depending on college and program of course. I did 18 my last two semesters of undergrad and had no problem. I also had a P/T job.

[kihun]

Thanks guys!!!

[WreckerX5d]

Assuming you are post 9/11, it doesn't matter if you take 12 credits or 21 of them. You get paid the same regardless. I would be sure to stay on top of the VA, sometimes they were behind payments by 3-4 months of the BAH. I was only taking 12 credits and had more than enough time to work 30hrs a week as well. The extra cash doesn't hurt at all.

[badazzm]

For GE classes, easily. Done 24 in a semester. Key is no to part time work.

[M_Six]

At my alma mater you paid tuition up to 15 hours and fees up to 18, so anything above that was "free." I had no financial aid, so I was cramming as many courses in as I could.

My last year of school I did 11 in the summer, 24 in the fall, and 27 in the spring. The fall wasn't bad, but the spring semester was a killer because I took an "easy" photography course which required about 10 hrs per week in the photo lab. I wasn't working either, but my whole day was filled with homework and classes. If you're just taking GER courses and not more than one is writing intensive, you should be fine.

[Uber V8]

I am a financial aid administrator and manage our Direct Loan Program. Feel free to ask (or PM) me and questions you may have in regards to financial aid.

18 units should be a piece of cake as long as no core classes are involved.

[kihun]

Gents, thank you again.

I think post 911 gi bill pays upto 18 credits per semester. I should be going to school tomorrow to sort everything.

[Richurd]

I believe it is dependent of the school of 18-21 credits.

Should move to NYC for school. BAH here is 3200 lol

[RandomHero]

Originally Posted by MonkUSMC

Assuming you are post 9/11, it doesn't matter if you take 12 credits or 21 of them. You get paid the same regardless. I would be sure to stay on top of the VA, sometimes they were behind payments by 3-4 months of the BAH. I was only taking 12 credits and had more than enough time to work 30hrs a week as well. The extra cash doesn't hurt at all.

I don't think his priority should be whether he gets paid or not. The whole point of earning a degree is so you can use it. Taking 12 credit hours a semester would mean 5+ years in school. From strictly an age standpoint, you're already starting behind people who entered college immediately after high school

Let's put that into perspective:
Assuming you enlisted at 18, only did 4 years of active duty, and did the 12 hour/semester plan....that means you're earning your degree at 27+ years old. Meanwhile, other people in their related field could have as much as 6 years of actual work experience after graduating. If that's your plan, I'd question if a degree would actually be beneficial towards your future.

[jlstyle]

18 shouldn't be too bad.
I've done 21 credits on my junior year with core classes. It was definately very tough because of long class hours and little time to keep up with all the projects.

[Greenkirby21]

I did 20 hours while working (part time) so it is very doable. Got all As that semester too

But then again every semester I did 17 or 18 hours.

So yes u can do it!

[jophish17]

I was a finance major and took 18-19 hours while working full time at night. Never got sleep and my social life sucked at times, but I graduated earlier. (3.7 gpa too)

I wouldn't suggest doing it as, say, a mechanic engineer though. Really depends on the person, school, major, classes etc. just be warned that exams week will BLOW

I say if you took 11 over summer and got a 4.0 then you'll be good to take more - that's like 15 hours in a normal semester

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by RandomHero

From strictly an age standpoint, you're already starting behind people who entered college immediately after high school...
...that means you're earning your degree at 27+ years old. Meanwhile, other people in their related field could have as much as 6 years of actual work experience after graduating. If that's your plan, I'd question if a degree would actually be beneficial towards your future.

If I had worried about this I would not be where I am today. I didn't start medical school until I was almost 30. 6-7 years older than most of my classmates. Didn't bother me and I had no problem finding a job. Not trying to bash but he's got time if it's what he really wants to do.

[SilverII]

i took 18 hrs my last semester in school while working 30 hrs part time. It was tough, but got it done. I did have 2 easy classes in that schedule

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

If I had worried about this I would not be where I am today. I didn't start medical school until I was almost 30. 6-7 years older than most of my classmates. Didn't bother me and I had no problem finding a job. Not trying to bash but he's got time if it's what he really wants to do.

Likewise here. Got my BS degree at 37. Got a decent job immediately. Never looked back. Although I do agree that dragging things out longer than needed is a waste of time. If the OP can do 18 hours/semester, then do it and get the degree faster.

[reeltime]

I think 18 credits is extremely doable. I'm pre engineering right now but will be declaring computer engineering next semester (I believe lol). I took 16 credits this past semester and got straight As. At my school, the engineering program requires more credits to graduate so there's gonna be a couple semesters where I have to take 19-20. Comp engineering isn't gonna be fun

As long as you're dedicated and willing to work hard you'll be fine man. If you start getting behind in the schoolwork, that's when ish gets fubar

[boostedTIAG335]

Originally Posted by RandomHero

I don't think his priority should be whether he gets paid or not. The whole point of earning a degree is so you can use it. Taking 12 credit hours a semester would mean 5+ years in school. From strictly an age standpoint, you're already starting behind people who entered college immediately after high school

Let's put that into perspective:
Assuming you enlisted at 18, only did 4 years of active duty, and did the 12 hour/semester plan....that means you're earning your degree at 27+ years old. Meanwhile, other people in their related field could have as much as 6 years of actual work experience after graduating. If that's your plan, I'd question if a degree would actually be beneficial towards your future.

This is all bullshit.

Higher education will never be less beneficial to your future. I started college when I was 18 but I was going part time (6-8 credits per semester). I only did that because I was working full-time and making good money for my age. 2.5 years later, I was starting to realize how not having a college degree would hurt how successful I would be in the future. I straight up quit my job and went to school full time. Finished my degree in 2.5 years. Now I'm making more than double what I was making when I quit my old job.

If you want to graduate in 4 years or less, take 15-18 credits per semester. Most "suggested" academic schedules are for minimum 15 credit hours. I took 49 credit hours in one year. 18 in the fall, 18 in the spring and 13 in the summer. Sure, my life sucked. But I wasn't working and I put the "getting shit faced every weekend" on hold. I'm happy I did that.

This is coming from the person that thought college was stupid and a waste of time at the age of 17. My parents physically took me to the university I got accepted to and made me sign up for classes. I will forever be in debt to them. Especially because they stretched themselves thin to pay for every dime of my tuition.