CLAS Residence Requirements
Students must earn a minimum of 30 semester hours with letter grades in residence. In residence is defined as credit hours taken from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences subject codes , taught by CLAS faculty, while enrolled at CU Denver.
Additional Residence requirements for CLAS majors, minors and certificates may be enforced. Students should consult catalog entries for CLAS program to learn about program specific residence requirements.
College GPA
A minimum cumulative CU GPA of 2.0 is required for graduation from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The Major
The Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science majors in CLAS require a minimum of 30 semester hours of coursework in the major discipline. Interdisciplinary and individually structured majors may have exceptions.
Minimum GPA and allowable grades: 2.0 minimum major GPA, with all courses earning C- or higher grades.
Upper-Division Requirements
A minimum of 45 semester hours of upper-division coursework must be completed. A minimum of 16 upper division semester hours are required in the major discipline. Interdisciplinary and individually structure majors may have exceptions.
Major Department
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science majors require a minimum of 30 semester hours and no more than 56* semester hours in the major subject code (major discipline). A minimum of 16 upper-division credits are required in the major subject code. Interdisciplinary and individually structured majors are exceptions.
*Note: Courses applying to CU Denver Core Intellectual Competency requirements (English Composition I & II and Mathematics) are not included in this calculation.
College Minimum Grade
Undergraduate students enrolled in CLAS major or minor programs must earn a minimum grade of C- or higher in all courses that count toward their major or minor(required and elective courses). If the major/minor program wishes to require a higher grade for certain types of courses, like discipline specific capstone experiences/ senior seminars, etc., those courses need to be taken in residence from CLAS faculty/enrolled at CU Denver. If the CLAS major/minor program requires students to take ancillary courses (courses that are not taught by the major/minor program), the program may not impose higher minimum course grades for those ancillary courses. Major/minor faculty advisors reserve the right to make substitutions to in residence requirements when appropriate.
The Minor
Minors require a minimum of 15 semester hours (may be interdisciplinary).
A minimum of 6 upper division semester hours are required (may be interdisciplinary ). Minors require a minimum of 9 semester hours in residence.
Minimum GPA and allowable grades: 2.0 minimum minor GPA, with all courses earning C- or higher grades.
The Certificate
Undergraduate certificates require a minimum of 12 semester hours (may be interdisciplinary). A minimum of 6 upper division semester hours are required.
Because a certificate is a CU certification of a student’s specialized knowledge in an advanced subject matter, all courses in a certificate program are expected to be taken in in residence at CU Denver. No transfer courses may be applied to CLAS certificate program requirements.
Minimum GPA and allowable grades: 2.0 minimum certificate GPA, with all courses earning C or higher grades.
Internships
A maximum of 12 semester hours of internship credit can apply toward the 120 semester hour graduation requirement.
Prerequisites apply. All students must apply and be approved for internships through the Experiential Learning Center.
Independent Study
A maximum of 12 semester hours of independent study can apply toward the 120 semester hour graduation requirement.
Physical Education
A maximum of 8 semester hours of Physical Education can apply toward the 120 semester hour graduation requirement.
Pass/Fail
Courses used to satisfy major, minor, certificate, CLAS Graduation requirements or courses that require a specific grade for prerequisite purposes cannot be taken on a pass/fail basis.
No more than 6 semester hours pass/fail are allowed in any one semester. A maximum of 16 semester hours taken as pass/fail can apply toward the 120 semester hour graduation requirement.
College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
The use of CLEP subject examinations toward major, minor or certificate requirements is subject to evaluation by the faculty advisor in the department or program, when an exact equivalency has not been determined, and is treated in a similar way as IB, AP or transfer credit. To receive academic credit from CLEP, students must present official test results to the Denver Campus Office of Admissions. A maximum of 30 hours of CLEP credit can apply toward the 120 semester hour graduation requirement.
Second Bachelor’s Degree
Students who have been awarded a bachelor’s degree (either from the University of Colorado Denver or elsewhere) may be granted a second bachelor’s degree provided that (a) all university and college graduation requirements are met; (b) the major for the second bachelor’s degree is distinctly different from the major for the first; and (c) the college and major department residence requirements are satisfied. A second degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will likely require 30 additional semester hours of credit. Students who declare a second degree while completing their first degree will have one academic year (3 semesters) from when they complete their first degree to finish their second degree. If a student does not take classes for more than 3 semesters they must reapply to the university. This rule applies to second degrees only. Students pursuing double majors must complete requirements for both majors at the time of graduation, in order to earn a double major. Exceptions to these guidelines and policies may be petitioned to the appropriate CLAS Associate Dean.
CLAS Graduation Requirements
A single course may fulfill up to two requirements in the following areas: CU Denver Core Curriculum, CLAS Graduation requirements, a major program, a minor program, or a certificate program, with the following exceptions:
- The course cannot fulfill more than two requirement/elective areas in a student’s degree.
- The course cannot fulfill two CLAS Graduation requirements.
- The course cannot fulfill CLAS Graduation requirements, if it is already fulfilling CU Denver Core Curriculum
Major and minor programs may impose restrictions around double counting courses. Students should consult catalog entries for CLAS programs to learn about program specific restrictions.
All CLAS students must fulfill the CU Denver General Education Core requirements, in addition to the following:
Communicative Skills (3 semester hours)
One course in communicative skills from the following list, with a minimum grade of C-:
Foreign Language- Second semester proficiency (0-10 semester hours)
Students must demonstrate foreign language proficiency through:
A second-semester-level course with a minimum grade of C- (1.70) or
Satisfactory proficiency testing. No college credit is earned for a passing score on a proficiency test or
Completion of a second-year/level II high school course with a minimum grade of C- (1.70) in the second semester of the second-year or later. No college credit is earned for high school coursework.
Humanities (3 semester hours)
In addition to the CU Denver Core Curriculum requirement in Humanities, students must take a second CLAS course from the CU Denver Core Curriculum Course listing for Humanities or a course from one of the following:
- A course with an ENGL, HIST, HEHM, HUMN, PHIL, or RLST subject code
- A Chinese, French, German or Spanish culture or literature course(may be taught in English or in the associated language). Students may not use a language acquisition course to fulfill this requirement.
Behavioral Sciences (3 semester hours)
In addition to the CU Denver General Education Core Curriculum requirement in Behavioral Sciences, students must take a second CLAS course from the CU Denver General Education Core Curriculum Course listing for Behavioral Sciences or a course from one of the following subject codes: ANTH, COMM, or PSYC
Social Sciences (3 semester hours)
In addition to the CU Denver Core Curriculum requirement in Social Sciences, students must take a second CLAS course from the CU Denver Core Curriculum Course listing for Social Sciences or a course from one of the following subject codes: ECON, ETST, GEOG, PBHL, PSCI, or SOCY.
Biological and Physical Sciences, Mathematics (3-4 semester hours)
In addition to the CU Denver Core Curriculum requirement in Biological and Physical Sciences, students must take a second lab-based CLAS course from the CU Denver Core Curriculum Course listing for Biological and Physical Sciences with a lab or a course from one of the following subject codes (as long as two lab sciences are completed): BIOL, CHEM, GEOL, PHYS, or MATH.
Total Semester Hours of CLAS Graduation Requirements: 15-26
Major
Complete all requirements associated with your individual major.
Guidelines for Transfer Evaluation and Application
- Courses must be exact equivalencies for COMM skills otherwise they can apply to the other categories identified.
- Always seek evaluation of a transfer course for direct equivalency.
- Any advisor or member of the Registrar’s degree audit team is authorized to apply courses transferring from ENGL or COMM subject codes. ENGL courses must be 3000 or above, but any level COMM course may apply. Registrar looks for “writing”, “rhetoric”, “composition” or “speaking” and subject code for authorization. All other subject codes or ENGL courses from lower levels must seek a petition to the Associate Dean for exceptions.
- Anything that does not meet the above criteria must seek a petition to the Associate Dean for exceptions. Petitions must include a full syllabus of the course.
- For other CLAS graduation requirement areas, transfer courses must come from one of the identified subject codes for each area. For any outliers, the course must be taken from a College of (Liberal) Arts and Sciences and must be reviewed by CLAS Associate Dean.
- Always seek evaluation of a transfer course for direct equivalency.
- Any advisor is authorized to make exceptions to transfer courses using a subject code match.
- Anything that does not meet the above criteria, but does come from a college of (liberal) arts and sciences must seek a petition to the Associate Dean for exceptions. Petitions must include a full syllabus of the course.
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