General Education Policies
Only courses on the General Education Master Course List at the time the student takes the course shall count for General Education.
Because the program is intended to provide breadth, a minimum of thirty-five (35) units of the student's General Education courses must be outside the student's major department. "Courses in the major department" include all courses housed in the department offering the major, regardless of prefix. (For example, courses In French and in Italian are in the same department.)
A cross-categorized course may be counted (at the student's option) in any one of the approved categories A-F, but not in more than one.
Where appropriate exams exist, Foundation and Explorations requirements may be met by external examinations, such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams.
Students are expected to complete the Capstone requirement at CSULB. An exception will be made for students who transfer from another CSU campus after completing some of the upper-division GE requirement at that campus. To be accepted toward the Capstone requirement at CSULB, the transfer course must be approved for upper division general education credit at the campus offering the course. Other courses may be used, on an individual basis, to meet the requirement if they are approved for General Education at the campus offering the course and if the purpose of the course meets the criteria for a CSULB Capstone course.
Students who transfer from baccalaureate institutions other than the CSU after completing upper-division General Education courses may petition to have one or more such courses accepted toward the Capstone requirement. Such petitions will be evaluated on the basis of the criteria above.
