The Associate in Liberal Studies degree is a general education degree with a core of arts and sciences courses and many electives. Its primary purpose is to recognize your accomplishment in completing 90 credits in college-level learning.

Here are some examples of when you might opt for this degree:

• You're a lifelong learner who takes classes for pleasure; you aren't preparing for a specific career and you don't plan to transfer to a university.
• You've changed your direction a few times and have credits in different fields that don't add up to any other degree, but you'd like to wrap up your studies.
• You've earned a certificate in a field where there isn't a degree offered, and you'd like to build on it for an associate's degree you can put on your résumé.
• Some requirement in your transfer degree is keeping you from completing it. The Associate in Liberal Studies is your fallback plan.

The Associate in Liberal Studies degree isn't designed as a transfer degree. If you earn this degree and later change your mind, you can still apply to a university; however, it's likely that not all of your credits will transfer with you. You'll need to complete the rest of your university's general education requirements after you transfer.

Degree requirements

At least 15 of the 90 total credits applied to this degree must be earned at Whatcom Community College.

Core courses

• ENGL& 101 English composition I (5 credits)
• Computation (5 credits)
  • One course in quantitative/symbolic reasoning (Q/SR)
  • or any 5-credit course designated Computation (CP) on the Related Instruction list in the WCC catalog, appendix B

Distribution courses

• Humanities (H) (10 credits)
  • Courses from two different disciplines
    HUM or IDS humanities courses with 6 or more credits meet the two-discipline requirement. You must still earn 10 total credits in humanities.
• Social/Behavioral Sciences (SS) (10 credits)
  • Courses from two different disciplines
• Math/Science (MS or MSl) (10 credits)
  • Courses from two different disciplines

Electives

• Electives: any 100- or 200-level courses (50 credits)
  Note: Some 300- and 400-level credits transferred from university bachelor's degree programs may count as electives. However, you cannot use 300- and 400-level courses from community college applied-bachelor's programs.

Total credits = 90

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