AUSB Undergraduate Studies

Since its inception in 1977, the Antioch University Santa Barbara (AUSB) Undergraduate program has been academically rigorous and intellectually challenging. AUSB’s program provides a liberal education in which adult students engage in a wide range of learning activities.

The Undergraduate Program is a degree completion program designed for students who have already completed a substantial amount of college work elsewhere. Students enter AUSB with a minimum of 36 quarter (24 semester) credits in transfer and a maximum of 135 quarter (90 semester) credits from an accredited community college or 4-year college or university. Students must have a minimum of 45 credits at AUSB.

Undergraduate students put theoretical learning into practice through a wide variety of experiential learning opportunities that are woven into every course. Students can further develop their skills through internships, practicums, independent studies and service learning in the community. AUSB students routinely secure internships in schools, health agencies, art organizations, businesses, senior centers, environmental organizations, advocacy groups, and other community settings. Some students earn credit through new learning in their present employment settings.

Degree Options

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies

The Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies provides students with a modern liberal arts education to broaden their understanding of self, world and contemporary issues. The AUSB BA Program has the most flexible scheduling options and is designed to help students explore and develop their own interests and to enhance or enrich a direction in life that is meaningful to self, to others and to society. There are several concentration options for students to choose from.

Bachelor of Arts in Management

The BA in Management is for people who want to explore the roles, responsibilities, and ownership needed to build a positive working environment, develop as an emotionally conscious leader, and explore ways to advance social and human justice ideals. Students will explore the application of business principles needed to build and strengthen human and social enterprises; provide a foundation to understand and lead change in a diverse and complex culture; and develop skills for innovative leadership.

Within the Management major, students can add optional emphases in the following areas: Communication, Entrepreneurship, Globalization, and Marketing. Students can also design their own emphasis provided that appropriate coursework is available on that topic. Adding emphases give students the opportunity to focus on studying areas within Management that might be of particular interest to them. 

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

The BA in Psychology is designed to provide students with a foundation in psychological theory and research. Students will develop competencies in writing and interpersonal communication; as well as develop psychology-specific skills for effective self-reflection, project management, and teamwork. Psychology students will also engage with ethics and socially responsible behaviors for professional and personal settings. This versatile degree provides students a wide range of possibilities for both career choices and graduate work.

Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Applied Studies

If you’ve gained valuable technical expertise through your current trade and are ready for professional advancement, finishing your bachelor’s degree in one of our three Applied Studies degrees at AUSB can help you maximize that experience. Expand upon your practical knowledge by applying your previous technical and vocational training - such as design, hospitality, culinary arts, auto mechanics, medical trades, and more - toward the completion of an undergraduate degree. AUSB helps you connect your technical expertise to an academic experience that makes you a more effective problem-solver with critical thinking and leadership skills. The program can also prepare you for Antioch graduate degrees, particularly in business administration, psychology, education, and creative writing, depending upon your interests and academic preparation.

The BA in Applied Studies degree gives students who have technical training in a distinct area the forum to build upon previously acquired skills by developing a broader contextual understanding of their profession while advancing academically. Students will critically examine and gain a deeper understanding of the principles of your profession, moving toward a more systems-thinking approach. Studies will expand your skills in written and oral communication, foster problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and develop your ability to consider the social and ethical context of your profession.

The BA in Applied Arts & Media degree is ideal for people with technical skills in art, design, and media (such as makeup design, video editing and post-production, or set design) who want to more fully understand the context and business side of their industry. The major focuses on preparing students to use arts in today’s media-rich environment. You’ll view art from a historical and cultural perspective while exploring how the use of art and media has evolved into a platform central to effective marketing and communication. You’ll also gain crucial skills and problem-solving strategies specific to the arts and media fields that will make you a more effective professional.

The BS in Applied Technology & Business Leadership degree is ideal for people in technology business professions -such as auto mechanics and medical technology - who want to deepen their understanding of practical skills central to advancement in their field. You will focus on leadership perspectives, planning, and business tools and how to use them in an ethical and socially conscious context. You’ll also gain the interpersonal skills needed to advance yourself effectively within your field.

The Mission of the Undergraduate Program at AUSB

AUSB offers students Bachelor of Arts degrees in Liberal Studies, Management, Psychology, and Applied Studies as well as a Bachelor of Science in Applied Studies degree that each produce globally aware citizens and socially responsible leaders. Through the integration of academic and experiential learning, AUSB students acquire key intellectual and professional tools including analytical and problem-solving skills, critical and creative thinking, effective communication skills, self-awareness, and intercultural competence. The curriculum provides an innovative, student-centered, contemporary liberal education that uniquely prepares students for graduate studies and professional success in their chosen careers.

The Program Core Purposes of the Undergraduate Program at Antioch University Santa Barbara are infused throughout the academic curriculum, reflecting the intention of the faculty to provide a broad, meaningful, learner-centered, and well-balanced education. The Program Core Purposes are discussed in the course work and include:

• Engage in critical inquiry that employs relevant sources and methods
• Consider diverse perspectives, including opposing points of view and marginalized voices
• Connect learning with theories and experience through reflective practice
• Analyze power, oppression, and resistance in pursuit of justice
• Communicate effectively in oral, written, and visual forms
• Examine issues in both local and global contexts

Learning Options

AUSB is on the eleven-week quarter system. Classes, which are all upper-division for three units, meet either face-to-face, online, or in a combination hybrid model. Face-to-face classes meet once a week for roughly three hours and meet for 10 sessions over the 11-week term, allowing for holidays. Students are expected to spend approximately 7 hours per week of non-classroom learning, such as field work, data collection, reading and/or writing.

Seminars are one-unit learning opportunities to become acquainted with subjects not in the regular course curriculum. Seminars go for 6 to 8 hours in a one or two-day time period. Between 25-27 hours of non-classroom learning are also expected for the seminar option. Some seminars may require papers whereas others may require more reading or an experiential project. Seminars do not allow incompletes. Students are expected to obtain reading materials or other related materials prior to the seminar and are notified about these requirements. Some seminars have assignments which must be completed before the class meets.

Outside Learning Activities

Internships and practicums are field-based learning activities that take place in an applied setting (business, community organization, high school, senior center, etc.). The student is evaluated by the internship/practicum supervisor. Unlike internship placements at the Master’s level (which have the purpose of professional training), undergraduate internships and practicums focus on five primary goals which:

• allow students to provide service to the community;
• provide students opportunities to apply classroom learning to community problems;
• allow students to learn new theoretical ideas in experiential contexts;
• expose students to “real-life” social conditions of various workplaces and populations; and,
• give students the opportunity to explore particular work roles and settings in order to make better career choices.

Another option, the Independent Study, is an activity in which the student pursues specific reading, writing, research, experiences and/or competencies on their own, based on a contract established in advance with the evaluator.

Concurrent Learning refers to a course taken at another institution and transferred to Antioch.

Prior Experiential Learning

Prior Learning is college-level learning that occurred (1) outside accredited college classes, and (2) after high school and before enrollment at Antioch. Students sometimes confuse an internship or independent study with Prior Learning. Internships, independent studies, and concurrent learning take place during the student’s residency at Antioch, whereas Prior Learning took place before the student entered Antioch. Many adult students enter Antioch’s program with college level learning they acquired in such diverse settings as their workplace, home, or volunteer activities.

Students who plan to document prior learning for credit are required to take the Antioch University course entitled PLA 1000.SB Prior Learning Assessment Theory and Practice (4.5 quarter credits) before beginning the documentation process. AUSB adheres to the standards recommended by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). Students may register for Prior Learning Assessment like any other course. It is recommended that the student speak with their Advisor before registering. Prior Experiential Learning is limited to a maximum of 45 quarter credits. Prior credits may be earned if the student does not have 135 credits at the time of transfer, and only in order to reach 135 credits.

Degree Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Studies

Because each Antioch BA student’s educational plan is individualized, it is helpful for the student to become familiar in detail with the following degree requirements. The Educational Foundations class (first quarter requirement) also helps students understand and plan how to fulfill these requirements. In this section, requirements are first listed, then explained in more detail. Courses and requirements listed below are subject to change.

1. Total Credit Requirement: 180 minimum to 200 maximum quarter credits overall.
2. Residency Requirement: The residency requirement specifies that a minimum of 45 quarter credits must be earned at Antioch University. Credits earned from documentation of Prior Experiential Learning do not count toward residency and are not calculated in determining full or part-time enrollment.
3. Upper Division Requirement: At least 45 upper-division credits must be completed at Antioch University.
4. Breadth/General Education Requirement: Students must complete a minimum of 24 quarter or 16 semester credits divided over four areas (see below). Each course only counts toward one area of the Breadth/General Education requirements. May be satisfied with transfer work (this requirement is automatically satisfied with completion of CSU GE Breadth Requirement or IGETC).

Communication

(6 quarter or 4 semester credits with at least one lower-division course in English Composition with a grade of “C” or better)

Communication is an interdisciplinary field that integrates aspects of both social sciences and the humanities in the analysis of human communications and in the expression of ideas in writing, in discussion, and in live or recorded presentation. The study of communications ranges from interpersonal communication and small group communication to mediated personal communication and mass communications. Communication studies also examines how messages are produced and for what purposes and how they are interpreted through the political, cultural, legal, historical and social dimensions of their contexts. Communication studies prepares students for future work and study in any number of diverse fields, such as law, political organizing and public affairs, marketing, advertising, public relations, consulting and many others.

• All English writing or compositions regardless of prefix
• Communication or Media Studies
• Foreign Languages
• Journalism
• Linguistics
• Speech

Arts & Humanities

(6 quarter or 4 semester credits with a grade “C” or better)

Courses in the arts and humanities connect us to the efforts of cultures to find meaning in the human condition reaching back to the beginning of recorded history. The many disciplines that make up the arts and humanities open up horizons of understanding about who we are and where we have come from, while also exercising our imaginations and creative engagement with our human destiny. The arts and humanities cultivate critical thinking, self-reflection, imagination, and a sense of play.

Arts

• Dance
• Design
• Film & Video
• Music
• Painting & Sculpture
• Photography
• Theater Arts

Humanities

• Anthropology (cultural)
• Ethnic Studies
• Foreign Language & Literature
• Gender Studies
• History
• Humanities
• Literature
• Philosophy

Science & Quantitative

(6 quarter or 4 semester credits with a grade “C” or better)

The science and quantitative reasoning requirement seeks to enrich students’ understanding of the physical and natural world and the scientific and mathematical concepts, theories, and principles that explain that world. Accordingly, students broaden and deepen their understanding of the diversity and interrelatedness of human knowledge through the sciences and quantitative reasoning and are better able to navigate quantitative reasoning and scientific information and frameworks.

Science

• Anatomy
• Anthropology (physical)
• Astronomy
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Environmental Studies
• Geology
• Geography (physical)
• Health Science
• Nutrition
• Physics

Quantitative Reasoning

* Accounting
* Computer Science (intermediate and advanced)
* Finance
* Mathematics
* Research Methods
* Statistics

Social Sciences

(6 quarter or 4 semester credits with a grade “C” or better)

The social sciences involve studying the rapid emergence of the human sciences in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which earlier were modeled on the physical sciences, and have since attained their own internal forms of verification and confirmation of evidence. The contemporary social sciences involve the description and analysis of peoples and cultures, ethnic groups, and social classes from the perspectives of anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, political science, linguistics, and hybrid sciences, such as political economy, that emerged from them. Students learn the theoretical and methodological developments that have advanced our understanding of human beings, various social formations, behavioral patterns and structures, and dynamics of conflict and collaboration.

• Addiction Studies
• Administration
• Anthropology (physical)
• Business/Management
• Communication/Media Studies
• Economics
• Education
• Geography (cultural)
• Gerontology
• Human Development
• Human Services
• Law
• Library Science
• Organizational Management
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public Administration
• Social Services Administration
• Social Work
• Sociology

5. ​Core Course Requirements: 

The Undergraduate degree requires the completion of six 3 quarter credit competencies. These 18 quarter credits must be taken at Antioch University.

• Educational Foundations
• Academic Writing
• Ethics and Leadership (choose 1 from a slate of courses)
• Global (choose 1 from a slate of courses)
• Research (choose 1 from a slate of courses)
• Environmental (choose 1 from a slate of courses)

The core courses may also count as credits for the concentration-please consult your Academic Advisor when making selections.

6. Area of Concentration or Major Requirements: 

The Area of Concentration is a student’s specialized field of learning within the BA in Liberal Studies degree option. The student may include a Concentration in their program of study. The following stipulations apply:

• A Concentration must have a minimum of 36 quarter credits and may not exceed 60 credits.
• At least 24 quarter credits must be upper-division taken at AU in the chosen Concentration
• Concentrations may include transferred courses

Students who chose to major in either Management or Psychology follow the following stipulations:

• A major must have a minimum of 54 quarter credits within that field
• At least 27 quarter credits must be upper-division taken at AU in the chosen major
• Majors may include transferred courses

The Applied Studies degrees are considered a constellation of majors that share their core learning goals as well as degree requirements. Students who have 21 or more quarter credits in one cohesive technical area can transfer those credits as part of an Applied Studies major and then complete the degree program through professionally-focused learning. You will benefit from the learning approach of our liberal education model while continuing to focus on your specified career path.

The educational goals for the Applied Studies program reflect the integration of technical knowledge with liberal learning outcomes, as demonstrated by the following expected learning outcomes:

• Application of critical thinking and creative problem solving
• Utilization of effective written and oral communication skills
• Application of technological skills within a particular field of expertise
• Articulation of multiple and global perspectives related to one’s professional practices
• Analysis of how social justice issues impact professions and communities
• The capacity for critical self-reflection, particularly regarding professional competence
• Integration of theoretical concepts with technical training and lived experience

Other Stipulations for BA Planning: Several other stipulations apply for BA Program planning:

• No more than 24 quarter credits may be evaluated by a single instructor/evaluator.
• No more than 20 quarter credits may be earned in any single outside setting such as an internship site
• 45 upper division quarter credits must be taken at AU.
• Prior Experiential Learning credits may be earned if the student does not have 135 quarter credits at time of transfer, and only to reach 135 total quarter credits.
• Prior Experiential Learning is limited to a total of 45 quarter credits. There can be no exceptions to this regulation.

Upper-Division Learning

Because Antioch University Santa Barbara offers a degree completion program, courses in the Undergraduate Program are upper-division level only. All lower-division coursework must be completed at another institution prior to transfer. Upper-division classes are numbered in the 3000s and 4000s. For internships and for all self-designed learning activities (Outside Learning Activities, Independent Studies), Antioch uses certain 3000 numbers. This numbering system is summarized as follows:

The Undergraduate program requirements must include:

• 45 or more quarter credits of upper-division learning.
• No more than 135 credits of lower-division learning.
• No more than 24 credits that are successfully completed can be taken with any one instructor/evaluator.
• Educational Foundations course and Academic Writing course to establish context and familiarize you with the skills you’ll use as you progress academically.
• One Ethics and Leadership course, one Global Course, one Research course, and one Environmental course taken at Antioch.

The Undergraduate program requirements may include:

• Any number of extra credits of upper-division learning beyond 45 as long as the total number of credits does not exceed 200.
• 135 quarter credits or fewer than 135 quarter credits of lower-division learning.
• No more than 45 credits of Prior Experiential Learning and only until the student reaches the 135 quarter credit maximum for transferable work.

Current Tuition and Fees

University Tuition and Fees