Part Time Format Courses

Most of Saint Meinrad’s lay degree students pursue their degree on a part-time basis, and many of these part-time students live several hours away from campus. Understanding that part-time lay students have a number of other responsibilities—family, full-time work, parish and community involvement, etc.—Saint Meinrad provides a variety of course formats that fit into the busy lives of lay students:

Weekly Daytime Courses
This traditional course format, in which lay students and seminarians study side-by-side for the duration of the fall or spring semesters, is most convenient for students living within regular commuting distance from the Saint Meinrad campus. Core classes generally meet on Tuesdays and Fridays or Mondays and Thursdays; electives are generally Monday, Thursday, or Friday afternoons.

Weekly Evening Courses
These courses, taught during the conventional 15-week fall or spring semesters, meet every Tuesday evening from 7:00–9:30 pm at The Catholic Center of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

Weekend Courses
The main course format for part-time students living some distance from Saint Meinrad is the weekend course. These courses, taught both at Saint Meinrad and in Indianapolis, consist of three all-day Saturday-Sunday weekends (with a break for Mass, of course), roughly one per month for three months. This compressed format gives students the same amount of classroom time as a conventional weekly course, but requires being on campus only one weekend per month. Weekend courses are offered year-round; most students take four per year, thus making a dozen trips to Saint Meinrad or our Indianapolis site per year. Many weekend courses are web-enhanced, using the ANGEL online learning platform to post readings and promote further student interaction.

Weekend/Week Intensive Courses
Intensive courses are designed to economize travel for part-time students who drive longer distances to campus and provide opportunities for an extended stay. Intensive courses meet on the second weekend course meeting of the early Summer Session, and reconvene a month later, beginning on the Saturday of the third weekend course and extending through Wednesday, for a total of seven days of instruction.

Online Courses
Taught Spring, Summer, and Fall terms, these courses are taught entirely online, using Saint Meinrad’s ANGEL online learning platform. Online courses have regularly scheduled assignments and promote a great degree of peer interaction. Students may take up to 15 credit hours in the online format.

Web-Hybrid Courses
Web-hybrid courses are a combination of an online and a weekend-format class. Like the totally online courses, they use the ANGEL online learning platform to facilitate the course. Additionally, students travel to Saint Meinrad campus for three full Saturdays of instruction, roughly once a month.

Independent Studies
In cases where the student has academic or pastoral interests not specifically addressed by available courses, or the student has extraordinary circumstances that prevent enrolling in another course format, he or she may make arrangements with a professor to set up a directed independent study.

January-interterm Courses
During the January interterm, students can take intensive three-week courses, morning or afternoon, at Saint Meinrad. Students may live on campus in guest accommodations for the duration of their study. See the course catalog for J-term offerings.