Education Planning

General Requirements:

All baccalaureate degrees offered by a California community college must meet the minimum requirements outlined in this section. These requirements are designed to ensure the baccalaureate degrees are equivalent or superior to other baccalaureate degrees offered by other regionally accredited community colleges or universities throughout the United States. Each degree program must include the following: 

1. A combination of lower division and upper division coursework totaling a minimum of 120 semester or 180 quarter units that are applicable to a baccalaureate degree as defined within these guidelines. A minimum degree requirement of 60 semester credits or 90 quarter units at the associate level.

2. At least 36 semester or 54 quarter units of lower division general education is required

3. Completion of a minimum of 40 semester or 60 quarter units of upper division courses

4. At least nine semester or 14 quarter units of upper division general education coursework is required.

5. The general education requirements are integrated and distributed to both lower and upper division courses.

A. Lower Division Coursework:

Degree Applicable Lower Division Courses Lower division courses are consistent with the requirements for associate degree applicable credit courses outlined in the California Code of Regulations title 5, section 55062. These courses include the following:

1. All lower division courses accepted toward a baccalaureate degree granted by the CSU or UC or designed to be offered for transfer.

2. Credit courses that apply to the major or area of emphasis in career technical fields that would typically be applicable to an associate degree.

3. Title 5, section 55062 permits colleges to designate nontransferable courses in mathematics (elementary and beginning algebra), reading, English, and English as a Second Language as applicable for an associate degree; however, these courses do not transfer to four-year universities and the units are not applicable to baccalaureate degree programs.

B. Lower Division General Education Requirements

All students are expected to complete lower division general education as part of the lower division course requirements for a baccalaureate degree. Currently, the only allowable lower division general education patterns for baccalaureate degrees are CSU General Education Breadth or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum, which consists of two versions, one intended for students transferring to a CSU and one for students planning to transfer to a UC campus. Since it is not the primary intent of the community college baccalaureate degree program to facilitate transfer, either of these three options may be used. Colleges have the option to designate only one option as acceptable for their baccalaureate degree, but such a restriction is not required. Locally defined associate degree general education patterns that are consistent with title 5, section 55063, are not applicable for baccalaureate degree programs.

C. Lower Division Major Requirements

As required for associate degrees in title 5, section 55063, colleges should identify a minimum of 18 semester or 27 quarter units of lower division coursework in the declared major for each baccalaureate degree. A declared major is defined as a single field of study or related fields, as listed in the community colleges Taxonomy of Programs or an area of emphasis involving lower division coursework, which prepares students for the identified field of baccalaureate study.

Upper Division Coursework

A.             Definition of Upper Division

Upper division courses are defined as requiring lower division knowledge and applying that knowledge as demonstrated measures of critical thinking through writing, oral communication or computation. Upper division coursework may also encompass research elements, workforce training, apprenticeships, internships, required practicum or capstone projects. Upper division courses typically will have one or more lower division or upper division prerequisites that have been established using content review of the entry skills necessary to be successful as outlined in title 5, section 55003. Courses that have been designated as upper division are only intended to be applicable to baccalaureate degrees. 

B.              Upper Division Unit and General Education Requirements 

A minimum of nine semester or 14 quarter units of upper division general education courses. Upper division general education courses should come from at least two disciplines outside of the major, one of which must have an emphasis in written communication, oral communication or computation. These upper division general education courses may be developed in any discipline, but the courses should relate to the required coursework for baccalaureate students. Upper division general education courses are intended only for CCC baccalaureate students and should not be open to students who are not enrolled in a CCC baccalaureate program.

C.              Upper Division Major Requirements

A minimum of 40 semester credits or equivalent or total upper division coursework, including the major and general education, is required. The minimum total number of semester credits required is 120.A major is defined as a single field of study from the Classification of Instructional Programs. Colleges may determine that a lower division course meets the requirements for an identified upper division course requirement, but the minimum number of upper division units must still be completed.

All courses designated as an upper division major requirement must be completed with a grade of C or better or P.