Much will depend upon how many courses the individual is able to take during any given term. Since the minimum is 20 courses for the Ph.D., one should count on two or three years of coursework, another year for taking and passing comprehensive exams and developing a proposal, and at least one more year for the dissertation research. Five years is about the average length of time, especially if the student is not full-time. However, a full-time student who transfers the maximum 30 credit hours from another university could complete the Ph.D. in as few as three years.