Overall Minimum Credit Hours Required for Degree
- At least 120 credit hours are required. Some programs will require additional hours.
- The following will not count toward the 120 hours.
- No credit courses
- Zero level courses (remediation)
- Non-Degree Bearing Courses (transcripted as “not applicable on degree”)
Physical Activity Course Credits
- Zero hours of KIN activity courses may be used toward the minimum 120 hours. However, for programs requiring 124 hours, a maximum of four KIN activity credits are allowed.
Residency Hours – Minimum Credit Hours Earned From ECU
- A student must earn a minimum of 30 credit hours from ECU, and at least 12 of the 30 must be upper division (3000 level or above).
- At least 15 of the last 30 credit hours before graduation must be earned from ECU; OR
- At least 50% of credit hours required by the major must be earned from ECU.
- At least nine upper division hours within the major and three upper division hours within the minor must be earned from ECU.
Upper Division Credit Hours (3000 Level or Above)
- At least 40 upper division credit hours are required for graduation.
- At least 15 upper division credit hours are required for the major.
- At least nine upper division credit hours completed at ECU are required for the major.
- At least three upper division credit hours are required for the minor (hours must be earned from ECU).
- Credits transferred from another institution will be classified at the level (lower/upper division) at which they were earned.
Correspondence credits
- A maximum of 31 correspondence credit hours may count toward graduation.
- Online courses are not considered correspondence courses.
Maximum Transfer Credits from a Four-Year vs. Two-Year School
Although ECU does not limit the number of accepted transfer credit hours that can be transcripted, a minimum of 30 credit hours must be earned from ECU. Therefore, for a 120-hour degree, a maximum of 90 transfer credit hours may apply toward graduation. Furthermore, at least 60 credit hours, excluding physical activity courses, must be earned from a baccalaureate degree awarding institution (i.e., from a four-year school). The maximum number of transfer hours that can therefore count toward a bachelor’s degree are summarized below.
- Maximum of 90 overall transfer credit hours
- Of the 90 overall credit hours allowed, a maximum of 60 can come from a two-year school.
For programs requiring 124 credit hours, the maximum transfer hours counting toward a bachelor’s degree is 94, and the maximum from a two-year school is 64.
General Education Core
A student must complete all general education requirements as listed in the academic catalog. The general education core will include a minimum of 40 semester credit hours excluding physical activity courses.
Major/Minor Program of Study
- Some majors require students to complete a minor, but other do not.
- If a student is pursuing a double major, a minor is not required.
- The major and minor must be from different academic subject fields – unless the requirements for a major specifically allow the major and minor to be from the same field.
- Some majors will require a student to select his/her minor from a particular group of designated options.
- A major program of study will require a minimum of 30 semester hours in the subject area. Some major programs will require additional hours.
Double Dipping (i.e., when a course counts toward more than one graduation requirement)
- Double dipping may occur between general education and major requirements.
- Double dipping may occur between general education and minor requirements.
- No course may count toward all three – general education, major and minor.
- No course may count toward two majors, excluding related work courses.
- No course may count toward both the major and minor, excluding related work courses.
Note: Courses designated as “related work” will be identified within the academic catalog requirements for your major program of study.
Double Major
- Students who declare a double major are not required to declare a minor.
- No course may count toward both majors, excluding related work courses.
Earning Two Degrees
- Two Degrees Simultaneously: A student who meets the requirements for two majors may apply for two separate degrees if at least 154 credit hours have been earned.
- After Earning a Prior Bachelors: At least 150 hours (total) must be earned before the second degree can be awarded, excluding graduate level credit. All requirements for the second degree (including general education, major and minor) must be fulfilled in accordance with the catalog year current at the time the second degree is declared. Courses that counted toward the major for the first bachelor’s degree may not be applied toward the major for the second bachelor’s degree, excluding related work courses.
U.S. History and U.S. Government
All students graduating with a bachelor's degree of any type must have completed at least six semester hours of college credit in U.S. History and U.S. Government. Each of these courses will be general in nature. Specialized courses do not satisfy the intent of the policy.
Computer Literacy Requirement (CLR)
The CLR may be fulfilled with any of the following options.
- Completion of one of the general education courses in computer literacy; OR
- Completion of a sequence of courses within a program of study (major) designated by the college dean as fulfilling the requirement; OR
- Complete a program of study (major) for which a computer is integral (e.g., Computer Science); OR
- Prior completion of an Associates of Arts (A.A). or Associates of Science (A.S.) in which the computer skills requirement was met. The A.A. or A.S. must have been awarded from a regionally accredited institution of higher learning in Oklahoma.
Grade Point Average (GPA) Requirements
- A minimum GPA of 2.00 is required across all transcripted work including courses earned at ECU and any prior institutions.
- A minimum GPA of 2.00 is required for courses completed at ECU.
- A minimum GPA of 2.00 is required for courses counting toward the major. Specific majors may require a higher GPA.
- A minimum GPA of 2.00 is required for courses counting toward the minor.
- Per Oklahoma Regents Policy 3.15.5 - Section C - Paragraph 7, GPA calculations shall not include physical activity courses. All physical activity courses transcribed at ECU are transfer courses, which are graded pass/fail.
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
The Bachelor of Arts degree is awarded for successful completion of a program of study that is primarily composed of liberal arts and science courses. At least 80 semester credit hours will be from liberal arts and science courses.
Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
The Bachelor of Science degree is awarded for successful completion of a program of study designed to lead to graduate study or to entry into a particular profession. At least 55 semester credit hours will be from liberal arts and science courses.
Bachelor of (Specialty)
Bachelor of (Specialty) degrees are awarded for successful completion of a program of study of a conservatory or studio nature, or that is designed primarily for entry into a professional or occupational field. The Bachelor of (Specialty) is restricted to a small number of fields in which traditional national practice or demands of the field or discipline require that the degree title include the name of the profession or discipline. At least 40 semester credit hours will be from liberal arts and science courses. Bachelor of (Specialty) degrees offered by ECU include the following:
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.)
- Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.)
- Bachelor of Science in Education (B.S.ED)