General Education Requirements:
Liberal Studies B.A. Degree Completion Program

School of Liberal Studies & Continuing Education

SUNY general education requirements are fulfilled by liberal studies students as follows. With the exception of the humanities requirement, certain approved courses may be used to fulfill two requirements. For more information, refer to Courses That Fulfill General Education Requirements.

General Education Knowledge Areas

1. Basic Communication:
   AWR 1100 or LWR 1110/College Writing
2. Western Civilization:
   For freshmen, FRS 1000 and 1001/Culture and Society in the West I and II; for most transfer students, either through transfer work or an approved course in Western civilization.
3. Humanities:
   For freshmen, FRS 1000 and 1001/Culture and Society in the West I and II; for most transfer students, either through transfer work or an approved course in the humanities.
4. American History:
   An approved course in American history.
5. The Arts:
   An approved course in the visual or performing arts (2-4 credits).
6. Natural Science:
   An approved course in the natural sciences.
7. Social Science:
   An approved course in social sciences.
8. Other World Civilizations:
   An approved course in other world civilizations.
9. Mathematics:
   An approved course in mathematics.
10. Foreign Languages:
    This requirement is satisfied by one of the following:
    
    • passing a minimum of three years of Regents-level high school study of a single foreign language and receiving a score of 85 on the Regents exam or its equivalent
    • a score of at least 3 on an advanced placement exam
    • passing the College-administered language proficiency exam
    • passing one year (two semesters) of study in a foreign language at another college or passing a College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam
    • passing one semester of study in a foreign language at Purchase College

General Education Skill Areas
In addition, the SUNY general education program requires fulfillment of two areas of competency:

1. Critical Thinking (reasoning): Liberal studies students fulfill this by passing AWR 1100 or LWR 1110/College Writing, plus a variety of courses across the curriculum in which students identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments as they occur in their own or others’ work, and in which they are required to produce well-reasoned arguments.
    
   
2. Information Management: Liberal studies students fulfill this by passing AWR 1100 or LWR 1110/College Writing, a course in quantitative analysis, and a variety of courses across the curriculum that emphasize the management of information, research techniques, and the location, evaluation, and synthesis of information from a variety of sources.

Updated June 18, 2008

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