General Education Policies

1. All students must complete 48 units of approved GE courses with letter grades. If a requirement is waived without unit credit, additional approved GE courses must be taken to complete a minimum of 48 GE units.
2. All three areas described below must be completed by all students: Core GE (39 units), SJSU Studies (9 upper division GE units and 100W) and American Institutions (0-6 units).
3. Transfer students may fulfill all lower division core GE by completing the Intersegmental GE Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) or a CSU GE 39-unit breadth certification prior to transfer. Having completed the IGETC or CSU GE Breadth certification, the transfer student cannot be held to additional lower division core GE requirements.
4. All students must satisfy SJSU Studies at SJSU regardless of GE completed at other institutions. Exceptions:
   • Written Communication II (100W) may be satisfied prior to transfer, unless also specified as a course requirement in the major.
   • A complete 48 unit GE Certification from another CSU is submitted, showing lower and upper division completed.
   • Second baccalaureate students who earned their first bachelor degree from a regionally accredited institution in the U.S. (effective Fall 2011)
   • Student’s complete an approved upper division GE course at another CSU, in person or online
5. If a course is listed as a sequence (A-B), the entire sequence must be completed to satisfy the requirement.
6. Oral Communication (A1), Written Communication I (A2), Critical Thinking and Writing (A3), and Mathematical Concepts (B4) courses each require a minimum grade of “C- or better”.
7. Completion of Written Communication I (Area A2) with a “C- or better” is prerequisite to the WST. Satisfying the WST requirement is prerequisite to any SJSU Studies course. The WST has been temporarily suspended. See Temporary WST Policy for more information.
8. To find approved courses, check the GE designator listed for the requirement. This designator is printed by each GE class section in the SJSU Schedule of Classes.
9. All GE courses must be on the approved list of the California Community College (CCC), California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) for CSU Breadth Requirements or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) where and when the course is taken.
10. The following GE courses require prerequisites to enroll:
    • Oral Communication (Area A1) & Written Communication I (Area A2), both passed with grades of “C- or better”, are prerequisites to Critical Thinking and Writing (Area A3)
    • Satisfaction of the Writing Skills Test (WST) requirement and upper division standing are prerequisites to SJSU Studies (Areas R, S, V, Z)
    • Completion of Area A3 (or a 2nd semester composition course) with a “C- or better” is a prerequisite to Area Z (100W).

See the Testing  section for additional information about these exams.

11. Subsequent to completion of all CSU general education requirements (at the lower and upper divisions), a student may not be required to satisfy additional general education requirements outside of the major program requirements.
12. Complete information on specific requirements and approved courses is found each semester in the SJSU Policies document.