Public University Degree Audits: Who Incurs Excess Credit and Why

Most college graduates in the United States earn excess credit hours (ECH) that do not apply to their degree. In response, multiple U.S. states and college systems have shifted the costs of ECH away from taxpayers and toward students—a response which implies ECH is primarily driven by students who engage in frivolous course-taking. To better understand how and why college students accrue ECH, this study uses detailed degree audits from a large public university in the Midwest to identify four unique types of graduates with ECH: Pioneers, Duplicators, Clean Slates, and Jump-Starters. Results suggest ECH is a complex product of multiple circumstances and behaviors which differ across types of students, and that in general, punitive student-facing policy measures are misguided. Instead, institutions and academic programs may need to address internal policies and practices that unintentionally generate ECH.