Academic Rules, Policies, & Information

The following policies guide the matriculation, withdrawal, and graduation of Lakeland students, as well as establish the normal rules by which classes are conducted and credit is granted. Students who believe they have legitimate grounds for appealing or being excluded from the requirements of any Lakeland academic policy included in this catalog should address those appeals to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Degree Requirements

Contingent upon continuous enrollment, students are allowed to complete any degree program offered by Lakeland University on the date of their first enrollment in the university, provided no substantive curricular changes have been made. At times, Lakeland University may sunset specific degree programs with notice to students and identify a deadline date by which the major, minor, emphasis or other credential must be completed in order to be conferred.

Semester Hour Definition

Lakeland’s academic policies all assume that the basic credit unit is the semester hour, as defined by standard Carnegie units.
One Lakeland semester hour is equivalent to 1.5-quarter hours.
Unless designated otherwise, all Lakeland courses carry three semester hours of credit.
A full-time load for a student enrolled in a year of Lakeland classes is 24-36 semester hours (12-18 fall and 12-18 spring).
A semester hour represents not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week, for approximately fifteen weeks, or an equivalent amount of hours worked over a different span of time, or the equivalent amount of hours worked during other activities established by the University including but not limited to internships, practica, research studies, cooperative placements and other academic work leading toward the awarding of semester hours.