Certificate Requirements

Graduate Certificates

The online graduate certificates offered in CCO consist of 12-15 credit hours. A certificate may be earned as part of Master’s degree, or as a standalone credential.

Undergraduate Certificates

The online undergraduate certificates offered in CCO consist of 12-24 credit hours. A certificate may be earned as part of an Associate or Bachelor degree, or as a standalone credential.

Degree Requirements

Associate Degrees

The online Associate’s degrees offered in CCO consist of a total of 60 credit hours. These credits are distributed across professional courses and general education courses; the latter group of courses must include Critical Reading & Expository Writing I and II, Interpersonal Communication, and at least one Humanities/Math/Science elective.

Bachelor Degrees

The 4-year degrees offered on campus through the professional divisions—Communication and Creative Media, Education and Human Studies, Information Technology & Sciences, and the Robert P. Stiller School of Business—consist of 120 credit hours. These credits are distributed across Core courses, program requirements, general electives, one Math course, and one 4-credit Lab Science course. Core requirements consist of 41 credit hours, including Capstone courses.

The online Bachelor degrees offered in CCO consist of a total of 120 credit hours. These credits are distributed across professional courses and general education courses; the latter group of courses must include Critical Reading & Expository Writing I and II, Interpersonal Communication, and 9 credits of Humanities/Math/Science electives, and a 4-credit Lab Science.

Master Degrees

The online Master of Science degrees offered in CCO consist of 30-36 credit hours. The online Master of Business Administration degree consists of 36-42 credit hours. Twelve of the required credits may be put toward a certificate option.

The on-campus Master of Science and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Emergent Media are offered through the Division of Communication and Creative Media. The MS consists of 30 credit hours and the MFA consists of 60 credit hours. A thesis project is required as part of the MFA.

Minors

A minor is a minimum of 15 credits outside the specific discipline in which the student is majoring and allows students to broaden their education beyond their primary program focus. Students must declare a minor with the Registrar’s Office.

The following circumstances may apply for minors:

Some programs require that students select a minor to complete their program.
Students may not earn a minor in the same or similar discipline as their major.
General elective and program electives can be used toward completing a minor.
Students must have a minimum of 6 unique credits of required courses in two of the following:
- Major
- Minor
- Concentration
- Core Requirements
- Other program requirements
Addition of a minor may extend the time needed to fulfill all course requirements and the student may graduate with more than 120 credits.
Consultation with a faculty advisor and Academic Specialist, and permission from the division Dean or designee, are required before a student can declare more than two minors.

Threads

Threads are an integral part of the Degree Design Lab's (TRAD) Integrated Professional Studies program. The following criteria apply to threads:

A program thread is 24 or 33 credits (with a one-credit "flex" taken into account if a lab science course is part of the required landscape.

The following circumstances also apply:

A program thread is designed and maintained (but not assessed) by program faculty
A program thread should have a sufficient number of upper level courses to provide programmatic depth

Concentrations

A concentration allows (TRAD) students to gain additional focus in a specific aspect of their major area of study. The following criteria apply to concentrations:

Associated with a particular major only, either as required or optional
Comprised of a minimum of 12 credit hours (4 courses)

The following circumstances also apply:

General elective credits are used toward completing an optional concentration.
No more than 1 required concentration course can be used to fulfill a major, minor, or additional concentration requirement

NOTE: To modify a concentration, to add a new concentration, or to eliminate a concentration from a program, use the Program Modification template.

NOTE: The term "concentration" was adopted by the College (via the Curriculum Committee) in 2018, where we formerly used the term "specialization."