Do my college credits expire after 10 years?

[Freyster98]

I graduated from high school in 1999. Starting that fall ( of '99 ), I went to college ( for business ) for about 2 years and did horribly because I hated the subject matter, but I did earn some credits in a few gen-ed classes that met the english, social/behavioral science, and humanities requirements. I re-entered in the fall of 2007 for engineering, and am wondering if these classes should still count towards graduation. I've read some places that they "expire" after 10 years, but for such generic classes not really related to my major, is this true? My hope is that since I re-entered before that 10 years is up they should count, but worry that since I'll be graduating after the 10 year mark they won't.

I understand this probably differs from institution to institution, but any general examples of how this works would be greatly appreciated. And yes, I'm going to ask my advisor later this week. Thanks.

 

[physics girl phd]

I re-entered in the fall of 2007 for engineering, and am wondering if these classes should still count towards graduation. I've read some places that they "expire" after 10 years, but for such generic classes not really related to my major, is this true? My hope is that since I re-entered before that 10 years is up they should count, but worry that since I'll be graduating after the 10 year mark they won't.

You are correct in that it varies by institution. You should be able to find this information in your undergraduate student handbook or course catalogue (students used to get a print copy... now some colleges still offer print copies, but many have the handbooks online). Generally you do need to graduate before the credits expire (enrollment during the time of expiration isn't sufficient). Note that in some cases you may be able to file a petition (but the cases I've seen succeed are cases of graduate studies... where the student took longer than seven years to complete the thesis research and the core coursework credits were set to expire in seven years -- I find ten years a bit surprising).

 

[Mene]

I cannot provide a definitive answer as this policy may vary from institution to institution. However, I can provide some general information on how college credits may expire after a certain period of time.

In most cases, college credits do not have an expiration date and can be used towards graduation regardless of when they were earned. However, some institutions may have a policy in place where credits from a certain number of years ago may need to be validated or reviewed to ensure they are still relevant and meet current academic standards. This is especially true for specialized or technical courses that may have changed significantly over time.

For generic classes like English, social/behavioral science, and humanities, it is less likely that they would expire as the knowledge and principles taught in these subjects tend to remain relatively consistent over time. Additionally, since you re-entered college before the 10-year mark, it is likely that these credits will still count towards your graduation requirements.

I would recommend discussing this with your advisor to get a more specific answer for your particular institution. They will have the most up-to-date information on their credit expiration policies and can advise you on how to proceed with your credits.