All students seeking an Associate of Arts or a Bachelor's degree must satisfy the following degree requirements as established by the Florida Board of Education. You are required to complete a minimum of 60 hours of transferable college level credit to receive an AA degree. Florida State Board of Education Administrative Rule 6A-10.024 (3a) requires 36 semester hours of general education courses, excluding college prep courses. The remaining 24 credit hours are elective credits. Graduates must also meet the requirements of the Gordon Rule, and a state mandated foreign language requirement. You also must meet the Daytona State College residency requirements (see below).

Students seeking an Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science, or Certificate must and have a cumulative 2.0 GPA and a Daytona State 2.0 GPA and meet the Daytona State College residency requirements (see below).

Students graduating from a Vocational Certificate program must have earned a 2.0 GPA in their program specific classes and the Daytona State College residency requirements (see below).

Grade forgiveness applies when students repeat the same course in which they earned a "D" or "F" grade. The earned grade from the most recent attempt will be used in the calculation of GPA and graduation requirements. (A subsequent "W" grade will not replace an earned grade.) Students may not repeat the same course to improve a "C" grade or better.

Courses in Residency
The Daytona State College residency requirements are an overall 25% of degree requirements, 25% of program specific classes, a cumulative 2.0 GPA, and a Daytona State 2.0 of GPA. For Bachelor degree students, in addition to meeting the 25% overall residency requirement, a minimum of 25% of the upper level program specific credits must be completed at Daytona State College.

For instance, if your Bachelor degree program requires 42 upper level program specific credits, at least 10.5 of these must be completed at Daytona State, or if your Bachelor program requires 60 upper level program specific credits, at least 15 of these must be completed at Daytona State.

In addition, students can only earn a maximum of 25% of degree requirements through experiential learning, i.e. CLEP, APLE, IB or AP. Credits earned by active US military members are excluded from this requirement.

Transfer Students:
Once the student's transfer credit evaluation is completed, an email is sent to the FalconMail address and the transfer credit summary report will be available online at Records section of their FalconNet account. The college will include on the Daytona State College transcript all courses and grades that were attempted at a prior college except for the following:

• courses that meet the Academic Second Chance provisions
• courses that were taken at an upper (junior, senior etc.) level for which there is no comparable Daytona State College courses.

Grades received at prior colleges will be included in the cumulative grade point average, except for developmental courses.

Students transferring to Daytona State College who have earned an Associate of Arts degree from a Florida public college or Baccalaureate degree or higher from regionally accredited U.S. institution at the time the degree was earned are deemed to have met the General Education requirements for degree programs at Daytona State College, and also qualify for an exemption from the college placement tests. Specific majors may still require the completion of specified course requirements or prerequisites.

A baccalaureate degree or higher from another accredited four-year U.S. institution satisfies the CLAS requirements and the General Education Program requirements, and also provides exemption from the Foreign Language requirements for admission and graduation. Transfer students, however, must meet prerequisite requirements for all courses in which they are enrolled.

General Education Requirements
Students transferring to Daytona State College who have earned an Associate of Arts degree from a Florida public college or Baccalaureate degree or higher from regionally accredited U.S. institution at the time the degree was earned are deemed to have met the General Education requirements for degree programs at Daytona State College, and also qualify for an exemption from the college placement tests. Specific majors may still require the completion of specified course requirements or prerequisites.

The regional accreditation agencies are:

• New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Institutions of Higher Learning;
• Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, Commission on Higher Education;
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools;
• Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges;
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges;
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Accrediting Commission for Junior Colleges

Second Associate of Arts Degree
Students who transfer to Daytona State College, or who have previously earned an Associate of Arts or Baccalaureate Degree from another college, are not normally allowed acceptance to the AA program. The only exception to this policy would be for a student, whose transcript evaluation indicates that at least 15 credits (including the foreign language requirement) are needed to meet our AA degree requirements, indicating that the prior education is not comparable. Students transferring with a prior degree AA or higher are not allowed enrollment in the AA program to rehabilitate their GPA or to meet university prerequisites. Students with a prior AA degree or higher are encouraged to enroll as non-matriculated students and take courses that meet their personal and career goals. Normally a non-matriculated student is not eligible for student financial assistance, but non-matriculated students who are taking specific prerequisite courses for a Daytona State College limited access program will only be eligible for student loans.

Transfer Credits from Non-Regionally Accredited Institutions
Credits from non-regionally accredited institutions, including all foreign colleges, are evaluated on a course-by-course basis by departmental review. Supporting documentation is required to validate the transfer of courses to insure they are academically equivalent to courses offered at Daytona State College, including equivalency of faculty credentials. Students must submit official transcripts to the Admissions Office and the documentation for credit to be considered. Contact the Records Office for further information.

Foreign Language Requirements
Completion of two years of the same foreign language in high school or eight college semester credits of the same foreign language or in American Sign at the level of ASL 2140/2140L or above. Foreign and sign language courses satisfy elective credits toward the AA degree.

Graduation Application
Submit an application for graduation and pay appropriate graduation fees. The graduation application is completed online from a link at the Records and Registration home page. The fee will entitle the graduate to a diploma, if qualified, and to participate in the commencement ceremonies. Daytona State reserves the right to certify students as completers once they have completed all requirements for the degree or certificate, regardless if they have completed an application for graduation. Students who do not complete the graduation application process will not receive a diploma or have the degree or certificate earned statement on their official transcript. Completers are no longer eligible to receive student financial assistance.

Graduation applications can be filed at any time, but certain deadlines will apply for inclusion in the Commencement Booklet.

Students who complete all degree requirements are no longer eligible to receive student financial assistance for their current degree program.

Students not meeting graduation requirements for the term/semester for which they applied must reapply for the new term/ semester for which they are applying. The graduation application fee does not need to be paid again for the same degree level.

Fulfill all financial and other obligations to the College before receiving their degree or certificate.

Commencement ceremonies for degree, certificate and adult education candidates are held in May. Students who complete graduation requirements in the fall and/or spring semester, or who have applied for graduation at the end of the summer semester, are encouraged to participate in commencement ceremonies in May. The Records Office will inform students of the date and time for the ceremony for their degree level.

Students are responsible for determining if they have fulfilled graduation requirements. A Degree Audit is available on FalconNet online student services. We encourage all students to run a degree audit before applying for graduation. Assistance can be obtained from the Academic Advising Office for AA graduates, and from the academic department for career/occupational programs. Students may be permitted to substitute requirements upon completion of a substitution form signed by the appropriate program manager/program chairperson and dean/AVP if it is determined that the substitution does not substantially alter the program and is in the student's best interest.

Students typically follow the degree requirements as listed in the catalog for the year in which they began enrollment as a degree seeking student. If a student misses two or more consecutive major semesters (fall or spring) a student must be readmitted to the college and their catalog year will be updated for advising purposes. However, students may request to use the graduation requirements in effect the year they entered the college as a degree seeking student, or any year in which they were enrolled if the requirements have changed.