Semester Course Load and Student Performance.

Area of Science:

• Higher Education Research
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Many US college students exceed the traditional four-year timeline for bachelor's degrees, leading to significant increases in higher education costs.
• Reducing time-to-degree is a key policy goal, with increasing student credit hours per term being a potential strategy.
• Academic momentum theory posits that higher course loads may improve performance, but concerns exist about potential negative impacts on student grades, especially for at-risk students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the causal effect of high course loads on student academic performance.
• To determine if increased course loads negatively impact student grades, particularly for students with lower initial performance levels.
• To address concerns that policies aimed at reducing time-to-degree by increasing course loads might inadvertently harm student outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized longitudinal data from a regional four-year university characterized by a high average time-to-degree.
• Employed statistical analysis to examine the relationship between course load and student academic performance (grades).
• Focused analysis on the entire student performance distribution, including students at the lower end.

Main Results:

• Found no evidence that high course loads have a negative causal effect on student grades.
• This effect holds true even for students identified as struggling or at the low end of the academic performance distribution.
• Results suggest students may compensate for increased course loads by reallocating time from non-educational activities.

Conclusions:

• Policies encouraging higher course loads to reduce time-to-degree are unlikely to negatively impact student academic performance.
• Students appear capable of managing increased academic demands without grade penalties, possibly through time management adjustments.
• The findings support the feasibility of strategies to accelerate degree completion without compromising academic quality for diverse student populations.