Understanding the UCF Excess Hours Policy: A Comprehensive Guide

To encourage students to complete their baccalaureate degrees as quickly and efficiently as possible, the Florida Legislature introduced Section 1009.286, Florida Statutes, in 2009. This legislation established what is commonly known as the "Excess Credit Hour Surcharge." This article provides a comprehensive overview of the UCF Excess Hours Policy, including how it works, what credits are included, and how to appeal the initial determination.

The Excess Credit Hour Surcharge: An Overview

The Excess Credit Hour Surcharge mandates that universities levy an additional charge for each credit hour taken beyond the total number of credit hours required to complete the degree being pursued. The amount exceeding the total hours is calculated based on a percentage defined in law. UCF refers to this as the baseline hours limit.

How the Surcharge Works

A student becomes subject to the surcharge after exceeding the excess credit-hour threshold, which is the number of hours the Legislature determines to be excessive. The surcharge is a percentage of the amount charged for one credit hour, and it is assessed in addition to tuition and fees.

The surcharge percentage is determined by your start date. For students who entered a state university for the first time as an undergraduate between Fall 2009 and Summer 2011, the surcharge is 50% of the normal tuition rate.

Credit Hours Included in the Excess Credit Counter

Essentially, all credit hours that you have taken in college count, including:

Courses you fail
Courses you drop after the end of drop/add
Withdrawals
Repeated courses
Transfer credit that you may have earned at another institution.

Credit Hours Excluded from the Excess Credit Counter

Florida law is very specific about what courses are included in your Excess Credit Counter. The law is also very specific about what can be excluded. Certain types of credit hours are exempt from being included in the excess credit counter:

Accelerated or test credit (AP, IB, AICE, CLEP, high school dual enrollment credit, etc.)
Credit hours required for certification, recertification, or professional certificate programs (Example: EMT license for vocational purpose or a class for a Microsoft or Teacher Certification Exam. The license or class should not be degree applicable.
Credit hours earned through internship programs.

The Excess Credit Hours Counter in myUCF

The Excess Credit Hours Counter will be available to students in myUCF to aid in tracking progress towards the Excess Hours baseline hours limit. The Excess Credit Hour counter tracks the number of credits you have earned that apply toward the percentage threshold. Your personal counter is created during the admissions process and it follows you throughout your academic career with FSU. It is updated automatically each time you enroll in or earn credit that counts toward the percentage threshold. This counter will change as new information is received, for example, final transcripts or additional UCF credit. If you are a new student this term, this information may be preliminary.

You are encouraged to review the credits counted to ensure all of you credits were received and correctly counted.

Understanding Your Excess Credit Hour Counter

At UCF, an excess credit hour counter is available to affected students. It will track the number of credits that you have earned that apply towards the baseline hours limit and will follow you throughout your academic career at UCF. You are encouraged to review the credits counted to see if all your credits have been received and counted appropriately.

Your Excess Credit Hour counter is determined after completion of a review of your incoming transfer credit and a determination of what is applicable to your declared major or degree program.

Impact of Changing Majors

When you elect to change your major, the baseline will not be increased unless the new program requires more credits to complete than the previous program. If you have transfer credit, it is possible that your new major selection will change which courses are degree applicable. In the new major, the three hour history course is now degree applicable and added to the Excess Credit Hour Counter.

The review revealed that the student took three history classes for total of 9 term hours of credit in history. Based on the selected major, however, only six hours of history is applicable to the degree program.

In example 2, the Excess Credit Hour counter is 21 because the six hours of accelerated credit is excluded by law and the three hour history course is not degree applicable.

Double Majors, Double Degrees, and Minors

The baseline will not be increased for a double major or double degree. It is possible that the student will exceed the baseline and be required to pay the excess hours surcharge prior to graduation. The baseline will not be increased for a minor.

Graduate Courses

Yes, graduate courses are included in your Excess Credit Hour counter if they are being used towards your baccalaureate degree.

Appealing the Initial Counter Determination

You may have questions about how your hours towards excess hours were calculated or believe that there is an error in processing. However, if you think that you have courses that should be waived from your Excess Credit Counter, you must complete and submit a written request with any supporting documentation.

Read also: Your Guide to Volunteer Hours

Deadline: Appeals of the initial counter determination must be received by the end of your first term at UCF, no exceptions.

Example Scenarios

Example 1: A transfer student has 6 hours of AP credit and has completed two terms (twelve hours each term) at a college or university, for a total of 30 term hours of credit.

In example 1, the Excess Credit Hour counter is 24 because the six hours of accelerated credit is excluded by law.

Example 2: Same scenario as Example 1. The UCF review determined that all of the credit is transferable to the University. The review revealed that the student took three history classes for total of 9 term hours of credit in history. Based on the selected major, however, only six hours of history is applicable to the degree program.

In example 2, the Excess Credit Hour counter is 21 because the six hours of accelerated credit is excluded by law and the three hour history course is not degree applicable.

Example 3: Same scenario as used in Example 2, except after starting at UCF, the student decides to change their major from the one originally selected.

In the new major, the three hour history course is now degree applicable and added to the Excess Credit Hour Counter.

Refund Policy

Effective July 1, 2018, UCF will refund the assessed excess hour surcharge, for up to 12 credit hours, to any student who enrolls at UCF as a first-time-in-college student and completes a baccalaureate degree program at UCF within 4 years after his or her initial enrollment.

Students Who Break Enrollment

In 2012, the Legislature added language that states undergraduate students who break enrollment-defined by FSU as a break in enrollment requiring readmission-are subject to the current thresholds and surcharges in effect for the semester they return to the university. Essentially, all credit hours that you have taken in college count, including courses you fail; courses you drop after the end of drop/add; withdrawals; repeats; and transfer credit that you may have earned at another institution. transfer-credit hours, if those hours do not apply to the student's declared major when they initially enroll at FSU.

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