The number of undergraduate credit hours taken in the sciences, engineering, and engineering technology, and in four major humanities fields (English, history, modern languages, and philosophy) for the fall semester, 1980-1981 was studied, based on a survey of 65 colleges and universities that are members of the American Council on Education's Higher Education Panel. Data from responding institutions were statistically adjusted to represent the national population of 2,732 institutions that enroll undergraduates. Data on undergraduate student credit hours are presented by level of instruction, selected fields of study, and type of institution. Information on lower and upper division student credit hours, along with a comparison of the top 50 universities with all universities, are included. Among the findings are the following: 2-year colleges accounted for 38 percent of the lower division student credit hours in 10 science, engineering, and engineering technology fields; 4-year colleges accounted for 33 percent, and the remaining 29 percent were taken at universities; of these 10 fields surveyed, the basic social sciences reported the largest total of student credit hours, while mathematical sciences and life sciences ranked second and third, respectively; in lower division credit hours, the mathematical sciences ranked first; engineering was the only field studied in which more credit hours were taken in the upper division than in the lower; English and American literature accounted for more than half of the credit hours reported in the four humanities fields; and nearly half of the lower division credit hours in English and American literature were taken in 2-year colleges. Statistical tables, a questionnaire, and technical notes are included. (SW)