Graduation Requirements

To be considered a candidate for graduation, a student must have been admitted to a degree or certificate program at BCC. Students must complete at least one quarter (25 percent) of their program’s graduation credit requirements by enrollment in regularly scheduled classes at BCC. Hence, a student may not meet more than one half of the program’s graduation requirements by transfer, examination, prior learning experience or a combination thereof.

To be awarded an associate degree, students must earn an overall minimum cumulative average of 2.000, and a minimum cumulative average of 2.000 in all courses in the area of specialization.
To be awarded a certificate, students must earn an overall minimum cumulative average of 2.000, and a minimum cumulative average of 2.000 in the certificate program requirements.
Students must indicate their intention to graduate or complete a certificate by filing a Graduation Application Form in the Registrar’s Office (F-111) by the appropriate deadline.

Specific degree and certificate program requirements are listed for each program in the Programs of Study section. Any substitutions must be approved by the program advisor and, in the case of general education requirements, the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The appropriate waiver/substitution form must be filed with the Registrar’s Office.

Also, in addition to their program and general education requirements, degree- seeking students must complete:

A four-item core competencies portfolio (see Core Competencies Requirements); and
4 FORUM units (see Forum Requirements); and
30 hours of Health/Fitness participation (see Health/Fitness Requirements).

Graduation Dates

BCC recognizes three graduation dates: at the end of the summer session, the end of the fall semester and Commencement at the end of the spring semester. Diplomas will be distributed to students at this time. Transcripts of students who complete degree requirements will show the appropriate graduation date. While degrees will be conferred and certificates awarded as of the indicated graduation dates, only one annual Commencement is held, and the official program for that occasion contains the names of all who have completed their degrees and certificates since the last Commencement. BCC graduates are expected to attend Commencement exercises in the spring.

Graduation Honors

A number of academic distinctions are made known at the graduation ceremony. These include the introduction of a Valedictorian and the recognition of students graduating from a degree program with Honors (3.250 to 3.749 cumulative grade point average) and High Honors (3.750 to 4.000 cumulative grade point average).

General Education Requirements

BCC has adopted a core curriculum intended to:

Provide students with a strong base of knowledge from a broad spectrum of disciplines reflecting human kind’s past in language, art, science, mathematics, history and the social sciences;
Provide students with basic skills for current and future college-level work, the dynamics of a changing job market, and the demands of a knowledge-based society; and
Expose students to the values that sustain and nurture productive, purposeful and healthy lives.

MassTransfer Requirements

Students planning to transfer to one of the state-supported universities or colleges in Massachusetts are eligible for MassTransfer. See MassTransfer for more information.

MassTransfer provides community college graduates who complete designated associate degrees with the benefits of the full transfer and applicability of credit, guaranteed admission (2.500 GPA or higher) and a tuition discount (3.000 GPA or higher).

MassTransfer also provides students in the Massachusetts public higher education system the intermediate goal of completing a portable Gen Ed Foundation which will satisfy the general education/distribution/core requirements across institutions.

Listed on this page are all of the courses that meet MassTransfer requirements. In addition, there is a listing of courses that meet BCC’s Literature requirement (see below).

Please refer to the explanation of course codes in the table before reading the course descriptions.

Forum Requirement

FORUM is a noncredit requirement of all degree programs. Students must complete four FORUMS in order to graduate.

BCC FORUMS are designed to meet these objectives:

To promote lifelong curiosity and interest in a broad range of ideas and subjects;
To provide a public debate and exchange platform;
To encourage live interaction and engagement; and
To strengthen college outreach and community involvement.

To qualify as a FORUM, the activity must be a live event that supports the FORUM objectives, publicly announced and accessible, and officially designated and approved by the FORUM coordinator/committee; or a live event or activity that supports the FORUM objectives and is identified and supervised by faculty.

A series of scheduled FORUMS will take place on campus each semester. Other live events or activities may qualify if they are faculty sponsored and approved by the FORUM coordinator.

Students should consult FORUM links on the BCC website for more information and for each semester’s schedule. Students can monitor their progress in completing the requirement by checking their degree audit in WebAdvisor or by contacting the Registrar’s Office at 413-236-2136.

Students should begin meeting the requirement during their first semester in a degree program. Certificate students do not have to meet FORUM requirements but are strongly urged to do so if they plan on entering a degree program in the future.

Students enrolling at BCC with a bachelor’s degree are exempt from FORUM as are any students who began their studies at BCC prior to September 1, 1978. No other exemptions are granted.

Health/Fitness Requirement

BCC’s Health/Fitness requirement promotes lifelong optimum health by providing students with the education and skills for maintaining physical fitness. Students may meet this requirement through one of the following options:

Two credits of college Health/Fitness courses* taken at BCC or transferred in from another college; or
Not more than 15 hours at a non-BCC facility that tracks and supervises activities, plus 1 credit college Health/ Fitness class* or 15 hours with a personal trainer, intramural league or a supervised activity in the Paterson Fitness Center or 30 hours of a BCC supervised activity; or
Participation in the armed forces or civil service.

* BCC courses that meet the Health/Fitness requirement are designated “HF” in the course descriptions beginning and in the consolidated General Education Requirements list.