Program Overview
B.A. or B.S. in Professional Studies

A bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) in professional studies is available to students with a technical or professional associate degree from a regionally-accredited junior, community or technical college in the United States. The Professional Studies Program is designed to count 90 credits from your technical degree as your “major.” You’ll obtain your bachelor’s degree at SPU by taking liberal arts (i.e. general education) courses, 10 credits in foundations courses (Christian Scriptures and Christian Theology), and completing a minor or elementary education certification to complement your technical or professional degree. For example, a student with a computer network specialist degree may wish to complete the bachelor’s degree with a minor in computer science.

Required general education courses to complete the bachelor’s degree are drawn from writing, foreign languages, humanities, fine arts, social sciences, natural and physical sciences, mathematics and SPU Foundations (e.g., theology). More than thirty academic minors are available, including an electrical engineering minor that can be completed in the evening.

Length of Program
The amount of time it takes to complete your bachelor’s degree at SPU depends on several factors:

• how many general education courses you have already completed through your associate degree
• whether you choose to complete a minor or elementary education certification
• how many classes you wish to take each quarter

Many technical and professional programs include courses that will count toward SPU’s general education and/or minor requirements. SPU will evaluate your transcripts to see which requirements still need to be completed and how many elective credits you may need to take. Elective credits are classes you choose to meet SPU’s minimum total credit or upper division credit requirements.

Credit Requirements
Requirements for the B.A. or B.S. degree in professional studies include:

• A minimum of 180 college-level credits
• 60 upper-division credits
• 65-80 credits in general education education (some of which already may have been completed at the two-year school)
• A minor (generally 30 credits); or
• 74 credits for elementary education certification, including some credits that will also fulfill general education requirements
• Demonstrated proficiency in writing, math and foreign language