Maximum MA hours when I was in school was 12/semester and we had to have 30+ hours, including independent study and the thesis, if we chose that option (I had decided to drop out, so I did two secondary concentrations in early modern European and US). Most of us took 6-9 hours a semester and even that was rough, even though I wasn't a GA my first year and while eligible my second, I chose not to in order to finish in 1.5 years.

But I decoupled that from the Ph.D. program, which would have involved another 45 hours, not including the exams for field and language (had to demonstrate reading fluency in at least two languages, or three in my field - English, French, German, if I remember right).

But maybe things have changed, and not just between universities. All I know is that I finished my MA at least one semester before anyone else that entered with me and that I was the youngest at barely 23 when I did it.