Graduation Requirements

To be considered for admission to candidacy for a degree, students must make formal petition to the faculty for the degree during the semester preceding the final semester in residence. However, a student must petition before the end of the first week of classes of his/her final semester or summer term. Petition forms are available in the Office of the Registrar and must be returned, once completed, to the Office of the Registrar.
To be eligible to receive a baccalaureate degree, a student must meet the following requirements:

  1. Complete the required General Education courses with a grade of "C" or better in ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102 (or equivalents, if a transfer student).
  2. Complete the chosen program of study with the grade of "C" or better in all courses listed under the major including those listed as "Lower Division Major Requirements".
  3. Complete a minimum of 123 semester hours with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 on all course work attempted at KSU. No course may be counted more than one time in meeting the total credit hours required for the degree.
  4. Complete at least 39 semester hours of upper division (courses number 3000 or higher) work overall.
  5. Complete at least 30 semester hours in residence at Kennesaw State. At least 20 of the last 30 semester hours preceding graduation must be earned in residence. In addition, 24 semester hours of the upper level major requirements must be earned in resident at KSU.
  6. Complete satisfactorily the University System of Georgia Regents' Testing Program (required of all persons receiving a degree from any institution in the University System of Georgia).
  7. Complete successfully History 2112 and Political Science 1101 or pass examinations in these fields (to satisfy the Georgia General Assembly's requirement that all graduates of units of the University System of Georgia demonstrate competency in United States and Georgia history and the constitutions of the United States and Georgia).
  8. In all instances, meeting the requirement for graduation is the responsibility of the student.

It should be noted that program and course requirements and university policies are subject to change without advanced notice. Changes in policy and requirements enacted by the Board of Regents take precedence over existing university policies and requirements. The University will make reasonable efforts to accommodate students affected by such changes, but reserves the right to determine where and to what extent it will grant exceptions to new policies and requirements. In such cases, program requirements that were published in University catalogs that are more than 10 years old will not be honored without specific approval of the department chair responsible for the program.

The University may elect to apply the policies or program requirement of an earlier catalog is the student was enrolled at the time that the earlier catalog was in effect. Students will not be permitted to mix or split requirements for graduation from more than one catalog.

Students who enter KSU as degree seeking students under the quarter system and finish under the semester system will be allowed to choose either the quarter or semester requirements to complete their degrees. Students should consult with academic advisors to obtain information about the transition.

Graduation Ceremonies
Graduation ceremonies are generally held at the end of fall semester, spring semester, and summer term.

Graduation with Honors
An overall cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 is required for students to graduate cum laude, 3.7 to graduate magna cum laude and 3.9 to graduate summa cum laude from a baccalaureate program. Graduation with honor requires that students earn at least 60 semester credit hours in residence at Kennesaw State University for the bachelor's degree.

For those students who return for a second degree or students who have received an "academic fresh start," the adjusted grade point average will be used to determine eligibility for graduation with honors. In order for a student in either of these two classifications (Academic Fresh Start or Second Degree) to receive honors, he/she must have earned 60 hours at KSU after "academic fresh start" or "second degree" status was awarded.

Double Majors
An undergraduate student is eligible to have a double major recorded on the transcript and to graduate with two majors under the following conditions:

  1. all of the requirements for two KSU degree programs are satisfied, including all residency and institutional requirements for each major; and
  2. the second major contains at least 21 semester hours of upper division course work beyond the courses required for the students first major and general education requirements.

Second Degrees
Students who have earned a baccalaureate degree from an institution regionally accredited by the Commission on Colleges may obtain a second baccalaureate degree from KSU by satisfying the following requirements:




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