APU Student Handbook
In this section

Last Revision: January 30, 2024

Maximum Number of Courses Permitted

Undergraduate Students

You may register for up to 15 credit hours at the same time per semester, which is a 16-week period, although only 12 hours is needed to be considered a full time student.  If the course start and end dates overlap another course, they are considered to be at the same time.

Course Overload Requests

If you wish to take more than 15 credit hours at the same time, you must obtain permission from the Registrar's office to carry a credit hour "overload."

  • You must be at least a sophomore (defined as having already completed 30 or more semester hours).
  • You must have a GPA of 3.0 or above.
  • You cannot have any current courses on extension.

Generally, no course overload greater than 19 hours that overlap will be approved.

Master's Level Students

You may register for up to 12 credit hours at the same time per semester, which is a 16-week period. If the course start and end dates overlap another course, they are considered to be at the same time.

Course Overload Requests

If you wish to take more than 12 semester credit hours at the same time, you must obtain permission from the Registrar's office to carry a credit hour "overload."

  • You must have already completed at least 9 master's-level credit hours at APUS.
  • You must have a GPA of 3.5 or above.
  • You cannot have any current courses on extension.

Generally, no course overload greater than 15 hours that overlap will be approved.

If you have any questions regarding taking course overloads, please contact [email protected].