Degree Requirements
Carolina Core – 15 Hours
These serve as general education requirements common to all associate degrees.
- CMW: Effective, Engaged and Persuasive Communication: Writing (6 Hours) Must be passed with a grade of C or higher
- SCI: Scientific Literacy (3 Hours)
- GHS: Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Historical Thinking (3 Hours)
- GSS: Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Social Sciences (3 Hours)
Associate of Arts Degree Curriculum – 60 Hours
Basic Requirements (including 15 hours of Carolina Core stated above) (37-38 Hours)
All course selections are from the approved Carolina Core Learning Outcomes list unless
otherwise specified.
- CMW: Effective, Engaged and Persuasive Communication: Writing (6 Hours)
Must be passed with a grade of C or higher - ARP: Analytical Reasoning and Problem-Solving (3 Hours)
Choose from MATH, CSCE, PHIL, STAT including MATH 111 or MATH 115 - SCI: Scientific Literacy (7-8 Hours)
Must include at least 1 laboratory science course - GFL: Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Foreign Language (0-3 Hours)
One 3-hour language course at any level or score of “2” on placement exam - GHS: Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Historical Thinking (3 Hours)
- GSS: Global Citizenship and Multicultural Understanding: Social Sciences (6 Hours)
- AIU: Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding (6 Hours)
- Choose ONE of the following three options (3 Hours minimum):
- CMS: Effective, Engaged and Persuasive Communication: Speech (3 Hours) or
- INF: Information Literacy (3 Hours) or
- VSR: Values, Ethics and Social Responsibility (3 Hours)
Electives for A.A. Degrees (22-23 Hours)
Electives may be any additional courses not used to fulfill the previously stated
requirements. Students who intend to apply these credits toward a baccalaureate degree
awarded by another campus or institution are advised to work closely with an academic
advisor to choose electives that will meet preliminary requirements of the four-year
major they wish to pursue. Of particular importance is completion of general education
requirements. USC Columbia requires a minimum of 31 general education credit hours
and a student planning to pursue a USC Columbia baccalaureate degree must complete
these hours. These hours can be incorporated within the 60 hours required for an AA
or AS degree when electives are carefully selected. Applying for an associate’s degree
does not in any manner affect eligibility to apply for a baccalaureate degree, and
vice versa.
Other Requirements
In addition to the requirements for the A.A. degree stated above, the following stipulations also apply:
- Students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.00 or better (does not include course grades earned by challenge examinations).
- The final 15 semester hours must be earned at USC Salkehatchie.
- No courses of a remedial, developmental, skill-acquiring, or vocational nature may apply as credit toward degrees.
- Pass-Fail option on elective courses is allowed.
- No more than 15 hours of nontraditional credits, which include DANTES, CLEP, and military experience.
- No more than 3 1-hour PEDU activity courses may count toward meeting associate degree requirements (any track).
Second Associate Degree
At times the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie confers a second associate degree upon candidates who have completed all requirements for the second degree, provided that the additional requirements for the second degree include a minimum of 12 semester hours beyond those required for the first degree earned at USC Salkehatchie and a minimum of 72 semester hours total. Under this policy a student may apply for two degrees at one time or separately. In either case the student would receive two diplomas.