How do universities handle tuition for students with multiple degrees?

[Mu naught]

When I start University in the fall, I was wondering how it works if you'd like to be in multiple programs. Say I were to Major in physics with a minor in computer science or mathematics, does it cost extra money? Also, do you get charged money based on how many credits you take?? The tuition for Universities is always given on a per-year basis so how does it work if you take more or less than the standard amount of credits?

 

[Feldoh]

It doesn't cost extra money at my university. As you said it's on a per-semester basis so you can take as many classes as you like up to some ridiculous limit. (17-19 is typical for a semester, and at my school you can go up to 25 which amounts to like 7 classes).

Where they get you is that you might not be able to complete everything in 4 years which means you'll be paying another whole semester's worth of money to take the last few classes

 

[Mu naught]

It doesn't cost extra money at my university. As you said it's on a per-semester basis so you can take as many classes as you like up to some ridiculous limit. (17-19 is typical for a semester, and at my school you can go up to 25 which amounts to like 7 classes).

Where they get you is that you might not be able to complete everything in 4 years which means you'll be paying another whole semester's worth of money to take the last few classes

I know this probably varies by school, but what about summer courses? Is that considered a separate semester?

 

[TMFKAN64]

Yes. Virtually all schools require separate tuition payments for summer courses. How much more separate do you want? :-)

 

[vociferous]

You pay more money for multiple degrees because you take more classes (of course, how much you pay depends on how it breaks down, e.g. whether you pay for a whole semester or individual semester hours and how many semesters/semester hours extra you end up spending in school). I have never heard of a separate charge for a second degree (other than maybe a separate charge for the diploma itself, often incurred if you get say, a BA and a BS, which usually have to be printed separately, plus whatever extra fees the individual departments might charge you.

Some schools have a summer tuition for summer courses. Some have open enrollment (where anyone can take classes and they pay by the semester hour).

 

[Jack21222]

At my University, there's a small "overload" surcharge for anything over 15 credits. It's $40 per credit over 15.

 

[jtbell]

When I start University in the fall, I was wondering how it works if you'd like to be in multiple programs.

Doesn't your university's Web site have information about fees?

At the colleges and universities that I'm acquainted with (in the USA), the big distinction in tuition is between full-time students (12 or more credit hours per semester) who pay a flat rate, and part-time students (less than 12 hours per semester) who pay per credit hour. Where I teach, full-time students can take a maximum number of credit hours per semester which depends on their GPA; I think it ranges from 18 to 24 credit hours. (24 credit hours would be eight typical lecture courses)

As long as you can fit the courses into your maximum number of credit hours per semester, and you don't need to stay for extra semesters, there's no extra cost for a double major.

But of course the details probably vary from one institution to another...