General Education

General Education Requirements

The student seeking a baccalaureate or the Associate in Arts degree must complete 36 college credit hours of General Education Coursework as indicated in the following table.

Communications (6 cc)

Required core course

Required general education course

Communications electives

Humanities (6 cc)

Choose one core course.

Choose one literature course.

Humanities electives

Mathematics (6 cc)

A student who is required to complete developmental or intermediate algebra before enrolling in a higher level mathematics course is strongly encouraged to enroll in such courses during the first term at Pensacola State College.

Choose two courses.

Mathematics elective

Natural Sciences (6 cc)

Choose one core course, either biological science or physical science.

If a biological science is chosen from the core, the second natural sciences course must be a physical science course (elective or core). If a physical science is chosen from the core, the second natural sciences course must be a biological science course (elective or core).

Biological Sciences core courses

Biological Sciences electives

Physical Sciences core courses

Physical Sciences electives

Social Sciences (6 cc)

Choose one core course.

Choose one course from the Social Sciences core or below.

General Education Electives (6 cc)

Each student must choose any two additional general education courses from the general education courses listed.

General Education (Baccalaureate Programs and Associate in Arts Program)

Minimum Grades

The student in an Associate in Arts (AA) degree program must maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or higher and must earn a minimum grade of C or better in each course meeting a general education writing emphasis requirement and in each mathematics course meeting the general education requirement. An overall GPA includes the Pensacola State College cumulative GPA as well as any transfer courses earned prior to enrollment at Pensacola State College.

Non-Traditional Credits

An AA student may not earn more than 15 credit hours of the general education coursework through non-traditional credits. Non-traditional credits include the following: credits earned through CLEP, departmental exemption examination, Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), and all other credits described in Non-Traditional Credits section.

Civic Literacy Requirement

Each student who initially enters a Florida College System institution in the 2021-2022 school year, and thereafter, who anticipates earning an associate in arts degree or a baccalaureate degree must demonstrate competency in civic literacy.

This civic literacy requirement may be met by successfully completing a) and b) prior to graduation:

1. Successfully passing either POS 2041 American Government or AMH 2020 American History from 1877
2. Achieving the standard score on one of the following assessments:

AP Government and Politics: United States – a score of 3 or above

AP United States History – a score of 4 or above

CLEP: American Government – a score of 50 or above

Foreign Language Requirement

A student who is enrolling in college for the first time (not a transfer student) in Fall 2014, or thereafter, and anticipates earning a baccalaureate degree or an Associate in Arts degree must meet the foreign language requirement. The foreign language requirement may be met with two years of the same foreign language in high school, two terms of the same foreign language in college, the second term of a freshman-level foreign language course, or appropriate scores on an external test for a foreign language.

An alternate method for students to demonstrate equivalent foreign language competence is by credit awarded on the basis of scores on the foreign language subject matter examinations in the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) as indicated in 6A-10.024(5)(b), F.A.C., which shall count toward the eight to ten term hours. The examination, minimum scores for awarding credit, and maximum credit to be awarded are as follows:

A student who received an Associate in Arts degree prior to September 1, 1989, or who enrolled in a program of studies leading to an Associate in Arts degree from a Florida state college prior to August 1, 1989, and has maintained continuous enrollment shall be exempt from this admissions requirement. Any lower division student admitted without meeting the foreign language requirement must earn such credits prior to admission to the upper division of a state university. Any Associate in Arts degree graduate from a public community college admitted without meeting the foreign language requirement must earn such credits prior to graduation from a state university.

College-Level Communication and Computation Skills

Per Florida Administrative Code 6A-10.030, prior to receipt of an Associate in Arts degree or prior to entry into the upper division of a public university or college, a student must successfully complete, with a grade of C or higher, the following: 6 semester credit hours of English coursework (ENC 1101 and ENC 1102) and 6 semester credit hours of additional coursework in which the student is required to demonstrate college-level writing skills through multiple assignments. PSC designates such courses Writing Emphasis courses. In addition, a student must complete 6 semester credit hours of mathematics coursework at the level of college algebra or higher. The College-Level Communication and Computation Skills requirement was formerly referred to as the Gordon Rule.

Writing Emphasis Courses