Graduation Requirements for the Associate in Arts Degree

Responsibility for meeting the requirements for graduation with
an Associate in Arts Degree rests with the student. To be awarded an A.A. Degree from Valencia Community College a student must do the following:

1. Complete a minimum of 60 hours of acceptable college-level credits of which a maximum of six elective credits may be in music ensemble courses and/or physical education activity courses; and a maximum of twelve credits may be in collegelevel English as a Second Language for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses; and a maximum of four credits may be in internship courses; and a maximum of eight credits may be in military science courses; and a maximum of 45 credits may be in any combination of Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), correspondence and extension, credit by examination, DANTES, and experiential learning.
2. Complete the 36 credit hours of General Education described in the A.A. Degree course requirements section.
3. Complete the 24 credit hours of electives described in the A.A. Degree course requirements section.
4. Satisfy the foreign language proficiency requirement described in the A.A. Degree course requirements section.
5. Satisfy entry assessment requirements and complete with a grade of C or better all required college-preparatory courses in reading, mathematics, and English.
6. Earn a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.0 in:
   
   
• all course work attempted which applies toward the degree
• all course work attempted at Valencia.
  
  
7. Complete at Valencia at least 25% of the college-level credit hours required for the degree.
8. Complete with a grade of C or better the courses which satisfy the Gordon Rule requirements (6-A 10.30 Florida Administrative Code):
   
   
• ENC 1101 or ENC 1101H
• ENC 1102 or ENC 1102H
• Two three-hour General Education Area 2(b) Humanities courses-one of which has an HUM prefix and both of which require 6,000 words of writing
• Six hours of General Education Area 3 Mathematics courses.
  
  
9. Satisfy the College-Level Academic Skills Program (CLASP) requirements by taking and passing the four components of the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) after earning at least 18 college-level credit hours including ENC 1101 and ENC 1102 or their equivalents for a total of six credit hours and a General Education Area 3 Mathematics course or document satisfaction of the CLASP requirement by a State approved alternative method.
10. File an application for graduation in the Admissions/Records Office by the deadline date listed in the College Calendar in this catalog.
11. Fulfill all financial obligations to Valencia.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. Your governing catalog is the Valencia Community College Catalog in effect at the time of your initial enrollment in credit courses at Valencia. A Valencia Catalog is valid for five academic years. You may follow the policies and graduation requirements in your governing catalog for the five academic years except as may be otherwise provided by law or policies of the District Board of Trustees. You may officially declare any subsequent catalog as your governing catalog and follow its requirements until its expiration; however, if your governing catalog has expired, your graduation requirements will be based on the catalog in effect at the time of your graduation. A degree audit is a report that compares the courses you have completed with the graduation requirements of a particular program and lists which requirements are "met" and "not met." You are encouraged to obtain an unofficial degree audit in Atlas by using the "Degree Audit" function in the Registration and Student Services list under the College Services tab. You may request a degree audit for any degree program or technical certificate at Valencia. When a number of courses may be used to satisfy a degree requirement, a course attribute code identifies each course that may be used to satisfy that specific requirement. The degree audit report will list the courses you have completed by the various requirement areas and will indicate the courses or the course attributes that are needed in areas that are "not met." The degree and certificate program outlines in the catalog and on this website contain attribute codes that allow you to compare the degree audit results with the program requirements so that you can understand which courses you need in order to complete the degree or technical certificate.
2. You may earn only one Associate in Arts Degree, whether it is in General Studies or is an Associate in Arts Pre-Major. (You may earn any number of Associate in Applied Science and/or Associate in Science Degrees.)
3. You will not receive grade forgiveness for any course that counts toward your degree and is repeated after you have been awarded the degree from Valencia.

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Updated: 05/17/2006