Academic Terms
Capstone Courses
These courses, usually taken during students' final semester at CCD, review and assess the skills students have learned in the program of study. All courses identified as capstone courses require a grade of C or better for graduation. Capstone courses must be taken at CCD.
College-Level Courses
Courses numbered 1000 or higher (ex. MAT 1340). Grades received in college-level courses are used when calculating GPA. These courses can be used to satisfy graduation requirements.
Core Curriculum
These courses fulfill lower-division general education requirements, as defined and agreed on between the State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education and the governing boards of all public four-year institutions in Colorado.
Corequisite
When a course has a corequisite, it means that students are required to take another course concurrent with (or prior to) enrollment in the course. Knowing the information presented in the corequisite course is considered necessary in order for students to be successful in the course. It is the student's obligation to know and meet course corequisites. These are stated in the course description section of the CCD catalog and the schedule of classes. Corequisites will be checked at registration. The student may be required to file proof of meeting corequisites.
Course Number
A three-digit number is assigned to each college course. Courses listed in the 1000s are designated for freshman level; 2000s are intended for sophomore level. Courses numbered below 100 are developmental and cannot be used towards a degree or certificate requirements and are not transferable to four-year institutions.
Credit Hour
This is the basic unit of academic credit. Generally, one credit hour is earned by attending a lecture class for a 50-minute period, once a week, for a full semester. In a laboratory course, one-credit hour is granted for two to three 50-minute periods per week in the laboratory.
An associate degree requires a minimum of 60 credits. Credit hours in parentheses, ex. (3), are options from which students may choose. They are not included in the total credit hours required for the program or plan of study. An average, full-time student course load is 15 credit hours.
Developmental Courses
Courses numbered below 1000 (ex. ENG 0092) Grades received in developmental courses are not used when calculating GPA and these courses cannot be used to satisfy graduation requirements.
General Education
General education is the liberal arts component of a baccalaureate degree that may include lower- and upper-division courses as defined by each institution.
Guaranteed Transfer Courses (GT)
Some of the classes students take at CCD are guaranteed to transfer to any public college or university in the state and count toward a four-year degree as though the class was taken at that institution. In the Course Description section of the catalog, Guaranteed Transfer Courses include a code such as "GT-SC1" which indicates that the class is guaranteed to transfer as a science credit.
Major
The field of academic study in which a student specializes. The selected major will determine which courses are required for a student's program of study.
Prefix
Each course has a three-letter code designating the instructional department or division. For example, ENG is the prefix for English courses.
Prerequisite
When a course has a prerequisite, it means that a student must have certain knowledge to be successful in the course. The prior knowledge may be demonstrated by a test score or successful completion of a prior course (ex. must have completed ENG 1021 with a grade of C or better). Completion of the prerequisite is required prior to enrolling in the course, and U/D, U/F, D, F, or I grades are not acceptable. It is the student’s obligation to know and meet course prerequisites. These are stated in the course description section of the CCD catalog and the schedule of classes. Prerequisites will be checked at registration. The student may be required to file proof of meeting prerequisites.
NOTE: Students who have taken prerequisite courses longer than seven years ago are strongly encouraged to take an assessment of the prerequisite material to ensure adequate prior knowledge to be successful in future courses. The outcome of the assessment will help determine whether the prerequisite course needs to be retaken. The assessment is available in the CCD Testing Center.
For Health Science degrees, because of program accreditation requirements, students must have completed all science courses within the previous seven years before the first day of class in a health program.
Section Number
A three-digit number or letter combination is assigned to each college course. The section number is found immediately following the course number (ex. ENG 1021-111 = Section 111 of English Composition I). This number is not indicative of the number of sections offered at CCD.
