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Credits for Degree: 180 quarter/120 semester credits
Minimum Upper Division: 60 quarter/40 semester credits *
Minimum Residency Requirement: 45 quarter/30 semester credits
Standard time to completion: 36 months **
* For Santa Barbara City College transfers, see articulation agreement for exceptions to the minimum upper division requirement.
**Actual time to completion ranges from 9 to 36 months, depending on the number of transfer credits.
Overview
The Antioch undergraduate programs use an interdisciplinary approach toward learning that emphasizes critical thinking, creative problem-solving, consideration of multiple perspectives, social and intercultural awareness, civic and community engagement, and an ability to connect learning to one’s lived experience. The programs are structured in a way that gives students flexibility while designing their path to a meaningful degree. Across the undergraduate school, programs share core elements, such as the general education and capstone requirements. Within each specific program, however, students complete certain courses and learning activities designed for students in the major. This section describes the common degree requirements for all undergraduates. Please refer to the program pages for information about requirements for a specific degree program.
General Education
A general education framework is defined as the foundational academic breadth that every college-educated individual should acquire. The Antioch University undergraduate faculty have structured the General Education (GE) requirements to include both a distribution of disciplinary expectations, known as Domains of Knowledge, and an Antioch Core that consists of Antioch-specific learning activities critical to the fulfillment of our program learning objectives. A course that fulfills any of these GE requirements can also be applied to fulfill other degree requirements. The GE requirement for all undergraduates includes 30 quarter/21 semester credits in Domains of Knowledge and 15 quarter/9 semester credits in Antioch Core courses, for a total of 45 quarter/30 semester credits.
Domains of Knowledge
The majority of the general education credits (a total of 21 semester/30 quarter credits) represent “disciplinary studies” that reflect familiar categories in higher education. This element of the general education requirement focuses on the priority that students be able to address issues from diverse perspectives, in this case across disciplinary fields. Students may fulfill these domain requirements with any combination of upper and lower division coursework that can be transferred in or completed while at Antioch. Students must complete credits in six Domains of Knowledge to fulfill the disciplinary component of Antioch’s GE requirement: arts, communications, humanities, quantitative methods, sciences, and social sciences.
The required credits include a distribution across these six areas of study as follows:
For Quarter-Based Programs (30 credits total):
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Arts: 6 credits
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Humanities: 6 credits
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Science: 6 credits
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Social Sciences: 6 credits
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Communications: 3 credits
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Quantitative Methods: 3 credits
For Semester-Based Programs (21 credits total):
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Arts: 3 credits
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Humanities: 3 credits
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Science: 3 credits
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Social Sciences: 3 credits
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Communications: 3 credits
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Quantitative Methods: 3 credits
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Plus 3 additional credits in any of these areas
Antioch Core
An important subset of students’ general education requirements has been created to reflect Antioch and its mission, directly tied to the learning outcomes of analyzing power, oppression, and resistance in pursuit of justice; examining issues in both local and global contexts; and considering diverse perspectives, including opposing points of view and marginalized voices. These credits cannot be transferred in but rather must be earned through engagement at Antioch. For general education, 15 quarter/9 semester credits of Antioch Core coursework must be taken while enrolled at Antioch through Antioch-sponsored learning activities. These include a combination of 9 quarter/6 semester credits of required Foundational Core courses and 6 quarter/3 semester credits of Mission-core electives. Mission-core electives are courses that reflect Antioch’s mission and values. Courses that qualify as Mission-core are designated as such by the undergraduate faculty.
○ 9 quarter/6 semester credits of required Foundational Core courses
■ Online programs
● INTD 3000 : Empowering Your Purpose and Voice (3 semester credits)
● INTD 3211 : Experience and Expression (3 semester credits)
■ Campus-based programs
● Required: EDU 3600 : Transformative Education (3 quarter credits)
● Writing 3000 (3 quarter credits)**
● Writing 4000 (3 quarter credits)**
○ 6 quarter/3 semester credits of Mission-core electives
See course options for Mission-core electives in the table at the end of this section.
** Students who are approved to waive either or both writing courses (listed as Foundational Core requirements) must replace those credits with additional Mission-core electives
Capstone Requirements
All undergraduate programs include a degree requirement that reflects the priority of reflective practice for all graduates, an expectation that they will engage in some sort of capstone process that connects experiential and classroom learning to the larger program objectives. Students have options for how they fulfill the capstone but all must complete a minimum of 3 quarter/3 semester credits to fulfill the capstone requirement. Students can register for a capstone only after they have completed 135 quarter/90 semester credits toward the degree.
Capstone Options
The capstone experience provides an important learning experience for students to engage in a reflective practice that highlights the integration of a student’s learning experience with the objectives of the undergraduate program. Because students individualize their Antioch experience, the capstone includes multiple options in order to meet students’ needs and schedules. Note that a given program can limit the options for the students in a specific major. All capstones are 4000-level learning experiences and can take any of the following forms:
- Capstone Community Service Learning: This is a one-term learning experience that is externally facing and engages students in a service project that benefits the community.
- Senior Synthesis Seminar & Capstone: This capstone begins with a seminar during which students reflect on their undergraduate learning experience and build a portfolio that reflects their achievement of the program learning outcomes. During that seminar, students also propose an original project, their capstone. The capstone project is registered separately and most likely follows the seminar term, although they could be coincident for a student already engaged in a relevant project.
- Capstone Internship: This capstone involves students working in community through an internship or similar field experience that concludes with an reflective component that synthesizes their learning and connects the field experience to the overall undergraduate learning outcomes.
BA in Liberal Studies
In line with the mission of Antioch University, the BA in Liberal Studies degree completion program is a 180 quarter/120 semester credit program built on principles of rigorous liberal arts education, lifelong learning, and social responsibility. Guided by these principles, the curriculum places the student at the center of their learning process. Antioch offers this bachelor’s degree completion opportunity for self-directed learners ready to steer their own educational pathways.
Students come to AU with backgrounds ranging from recent community college experience to students with up to 30 or more years of work and life experiences. Students in the BA in Liberal Studies Program may have accumulated college credits from other accredited institutions, from recognized testing processes, from military service, and/or from prior learning experience. From these diverse backgrounds, BA Liberal Studies students, with faculty guidance, design their own plans of study to round out liberal arts learning outcomes and focus on an area of personal and career interest.
The BA degree completion program is designed to meet learners where they are personally, professionally, and academically. Antioch’s BA in Liberal Studies program is meant for the learner who is planning, among other things, to:
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Change career directions
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Get a promotion
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Pursue a new job opportunity
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Attend graduate school
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Become a community or environmental activist
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Launch one’s life dream/project
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Experience the personal fulfillment of completing a bachelor’s degree
Many Antioch BA students are currently employed and have clear personal and professional goals. They are managers, artists, small business owners, social service workers, parents, community activists, military veterans, independent scholars and recent (or not-so-recent) graduates of community and technical colleges. Others are at early stages of their careers and want to explore ways to match their ideals with their studies and future work, especially with regard to social change and social justice.
All these students share:
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A desire to shape their education to fit professional and personal goals
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Interest in self-directed learning
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Drive for a personally meaningful education
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Strong motivation to enhance their professional and personal lives
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Appreciation of the value of collaboration
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Strong desire to make a significant contribution to society and create social change
The BA Liberal Studies degree requires a minimum of 45 quarter/30 semester residency credits, and must include a minimum of 60 quarter/40 semester upper division credits.
Customization is Key
In the BA program, each study plan is based on the student’s past experience, current needs and interests, and future goals. Students work in close collaboration with faculty advisors, instructors, and other students to shape their studies. Students build on earlier college work and on competencies learned at home, at work, through independent reading and volunteer activities.
Undergraduate students can earn a BA in Liberal Studies that gives them significant flexibility designing their own degree beyond the GE capstone requirements. For this degree program, students can transfer in credits from a wide range of disciplinary subjects without needing to follow a specific pattern of prerequisites. The core curriculum is recommended, rather than required, so that students can easily individualize their learning experience. Although all students in the BA in Liberal Studies Program graduate with the same degree, students choose an area of concentration to focus their studies.
Areas of Concentration
In consultation with their academic advisors, students choose a concentration that is in many ways like a traditional academic major. The significant difference is that students help design the combination of courses that make up their area of concentration, creating a unique mix of lower and upper division, and interdisciplinary coursework. In this way, students develop an area of concentration around their intellectual interests and career goals, drawing on past or current passions to shape concentrations that prepare them for graduate study or future career changes.
Students must complete a minimum of 40 quarter/27 semester credits and a maximum of 80 quarter/54 semester credits in a Major Area of Concentration. The BA in Liberal Studies programs offer a wide variety of core courses, electives, internships, and independent study opportunities for each. Note that credits counted toward an Area of Concentration can also be used to meet the general education requirements and vice versa.
Students may also opt for a Minor Area of Concentration in any of the specialized Major Areas of Concentration. There are additional Minor Areas of Concentration not available as a Major Area of Concentration. In order to earn a Minor Area of Concentration, a student must accrue at least 20 quarter/15 semester credits in a concentration outside of their specialized Major Area of Concentration. Alternatively, students may have an Emphasis in a specialized area within their Major Area of Concentration by earning a minimum of 12 quarter/8 semester credits in that focus area.
Students have the option of changing their Major or Minor of Concentration. Students should meet with their advisor before requesting a concentration change, to make sure they are able to meet the requirements of the new degree program in a timely fashion.
Students are encouraged to work closely with their faculty advisors as they develop degree plans appropriate to their educational and career goals. The faculty strongly recommends that at least half of the credits in the student’s chosen Major or Minor Area of Concentration be upper division. Students are also strongly advised to take many of the core courses in the specialized Major Area of Concentration to acquire a strong foundation in their chosen discipline.
The student should work closely with their advisor to identify internship opportunities and independent studies that will reinforce the learning in the chosen discipline.
If a student has not completed 40 credits in their specialized Major Area of Concentration or 20 credits in their specialized Minor Area of Concentration by the time of candidacy review, the Area of Concentration will be designated as Liberal Studies.
See the list of programs by campus for all Concentration options. This list is located on the School of Undergraduate Studies main catalog page.
Optional Emphasis Areas (12 quarter credits minimum)
Students may elect an ‘emphasis’ of in-depth study within their areas of concentration. These emphasis areas provide students with a specialized area of knowledge and skills. Emphasis areas are framed by the student, approved by the academic advisor, and must comprise at least 12 quarter credits that cohere around a central topic.
Major Degrees
Students pursuing an undergraduate degree with a specific major (including all disciplinary and Applied Studies majors) engage in a focused learning experience that has less flexibility but greater depth than the liberal studies degree path. Students pursuing a major must complete a minimum of 54 quarter/36 semester credits in their area and may be required to complete lower-division pre-requisites as well. Each major has a required core curriculum, determined by the program and Undergraduate School, and may have other mandatory learning activities associated with the degree such as a specific capstone experience.
Please check the list of majors by campus for details specific to each major. This list is located on the School of Undergraduate Studies main catalog page.
Students pursuing a major may also choose a minor, which requires a minimum of 24 quarter/16 semester credits outside of the major area of study. Additionally, students may have an Emphasis in a specialized area within their major by earning a minimum of 12 quarter/8 semester credits in that specific focus area.
Course Options
Mission-core Electives (6 quarter credits):
Options for students in quarter-based programs (AULA, AUSB, & AUS)
- BUS 3610 : Global Economics
- BUS 4410 : Community Problem-Solving
- ENV 3010 : Environmental Justice & Advocacy
- HUM 4040 : Queer Theory
- SOJ 3010 : Confronting Inequality
- SOJ 3014 : Freedoms & Unfreedoms in US History
- SOJ 3015 : Sexualities, Genders & Identities
- SOJ 3016 : Narrating Change
- SOJ 3030 : Power, Privilege & Oppression
- SOJ 3060 : Standing for Justice: History of the Civil Rights Movement
- SOJ 3130 : Radical Economies
- SOJ 3170 : Prisons, Policing, and Profiling
- SOJ 3310 : The Rise of Black Power Movement & the Black Panther Party
- SOJ 4340 : Activism, Art & Social Justice
Mission-core Electives (3 semester credits):
Options for students in semester-based programs (AUO)
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