CYA prefers to let each school make its own determination of credit based on the CYA transcript since we understand that there is considerable variation among US colleges and universities in the calculation of credit hours. However, what constitutes a full academic load at CYA is usually equivalent to a full-time course of study at any institution of higher learning in the US.

Applicants to CYA programs who wish to transfer credit back to their home school must present a Study Abroad Approval/Transfer of Credit Form filled out and signed by their study abroad advisor. The form will ask you to list conditions which must be met, including answers to the following questions:

• Will the student be granted credit by your institution for work completed at College Year in Athens on the basis of the College Year in Athens transcript? On other conditions?
• What is the minimum grade needed to receive credit?
• Are there any courses at College Year in Athens which would not receive credit?
• Would the usual four courses per semester at CYA be considered a full-time load or does your institution require a fifth course?
• Does your institution require its students to take the host language?

As a rule, CYA courses involve a total of 45 contact hours over the course of a semester. The exceptions are all Modern Greek language classes, the first and second semester of Ancient Greek, all summer courses and ARCH 416, which meet for a total of 60 contact hours. The winter intersession course (the Voula Field School) involves 22 classroom contact hours, 12 hours of lab work and teaching, plus 45 hours of supervised participation on-site.

Please note that in addition to classroom and on-site contact hours, a considerable amount of instruction at CYA takes place on field trips to museums and archaeological sites outside Athens. These field trips are an integral part of our academic program and cover the full range of Greek civilization: ancient, medieval and modern.

Every student participates equally in the field trips, which comprise visits to Delphi, Crete and the Peloponnese in the spring, and to Delphi, Northern Greece and the Peloponnese in the fall, a total of eleven days of study travel each semester.

Even though the instruction on these field trips – four to five hours each day, or forty-four to fifty-five hours each semester – supplements classroom and on-site teaching in Athens, the extra contact hours do not appear on CYA transcripts, enabling schools to employ them as an additional criterion when allocating credit.

Grades are based on written and/or oral examinations, satisfactory completion of course assignments, class attendance, and participation. Typically, students are required to take a midterm and final exam and to write at least one research paper. Some instructors replace a single paper of approximately fifteen pages with two or more shorter written assignments, and a few instructors assign a research paper in lieu of a final exam after approval from the Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Although most schools that send students to CYA grant credit based on the CYA transcript, a few require students to go through CYA’s School of Record (SoR), Southwestern University. If you choose the SoR option on the Study Abroad Approval Form, there is a charge of $250, or $50 for students at Associated Colleges of the South schools.

For more information about CYA and SoR transcripts, please contact our North American office (by email at info@cyathens.org or by phone at 617-868-8200).