Associate of Arts (A.A.) Degree Requirements

The Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree requires a minimum of 62 credits distributed according to University policy outlined below, with at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. A minimum 2.0 GPA must also be maintained in all Core / Gen Ed courses and all CLA courses.

A.A. degree candidates must complete the University Core / Gen Ed requirements, including both the Foreign Language and the International Studies provision (contact the Academic Advising Center for more details). Students are exempt from the Foreign Language component if they can demonstrate a proficiency in a language other than English. After completing an English 0802 / 0812 (1002 / 1012, C050 / C051) level class, A.A. students must also complete three additional writing-intensive courses before graduation. This requirement is met by IH 0851 (1196 / X051), IH 0852 (1297 / X052) and one additional intensive writing course.

Upper Level Courses

Students must complete a minimum of six credit hours of upper level coursework in both the Humanities and in either the Social Sciences or the Natural or Mathematical Sciences for a total of twelve upper level credit hours.

The Temple University main campus does not offer an A.A. degree, but Temple University, Japan Campus, students who have declared themselves to be A.A. students (by filing a Major Declaration Form), and who have completed a minimum of 30 credit hours at Temple University, Japan Campus, may graduate at main campus with an A.A. degree by completing their remaining requirements there.

Non-CLA Courses

For students matriculated prior to the fall term of 1995, a maximum of nine credit hours in non-CLA courses may be applied to the A.A. degree. Non-CLA courses taken to satisfy the University Core will be excluded from the non-CLA maximum for students matriculated prior to the fall term of 1995. Students who want to exceed this nine hour maximum must secure approval before completing a total of 40 credit hours toward graduation.

Students matriculated during or after the fall term of 1995, must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours in CLA courses. For these students, non-CLA Core / Gen Ed courses do not count toward the (minimum) 45 CLA credit requirement. A.A. student who accrues more than 17 non-CLA credits will have to exclude whole classes from all calculations related to degree requirements, sufficient to reduce the total non-CLA credit load to or below the 17 credit maximum.

Please refer to the Non-CLA Courses sub-section of the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Graduation Requirements section for an in-depth description of what constitutes a CLA course, as the classification system is the same for B.A. and A.A. students.

A maximum of nine credit hours in whole CLA preparatory courses (numbered 0700 - 0799 [001-049]) may be applied to any A.A. degree.