Apr 27, 2024  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Associate of General Studies Degree


Under certain circumstances, students who have stopped out of Metropolitan State University of Denver for at least one year in the past decade and not completed a bachelor’s degree, may be eligible to receive an Associate of General Studies Degree from the university.

The Colorado Re-Engaged (CORE) Initiative contained within HB 21-1330 allowed universities in the state to award an associate degree, a 2-year credential, to certain students who started a higher education but left without completing a bachelor’s degree. To be eligible, the student must have stopped attending MSU Denver for at least one calendar year (three semesters including summer), not continued at another university to complete a bachelor’s degree, and meet the following criteria:

  • Must have completed at least 70 credit hours
  • Must have completed at least 18 credit hours at MSU Denver
  • Cannot have completed 15 or more credit hours total from the Colorado Community College System (Concurrent enrollment credits earned through a community college while in high school do not count toward the 15 community college credits. Credits earned at an out-of-state community college do not count towards direct transfer.)
  • Must have stopped out in the past 10 years

Working with the state, MSU Denver will review students who stopped out during the 10-year period prior to the publication of this fall catalog and meet the above criteria. If those former students meet the following standards, they will be eligible to receive an Associate of General Studies degree. To wit:

  • At least 18 of the former student’s earned credits should have been earned by completing state-recognized General Education courses with a grade of C- or higher.
  • These 18 credits may have been earned at MSU Denver or at other institutions in the state that offer courses meeting the state’s guaranteed transfer (gtPathways) requirements.
  • Have a cumulative GPA for all course work of at least 2.0.
  • Courses completed must include at least 18 credit hours in the university’s General Studies program.

MSU Denver will review these students twice each year, once in the fall and once in the spring, to determine eligibility. Eligible students will be contacted by the university to arrange delivery of the Associate of General Studies degree.  

Questions about this process? Contact the Office of the Registrar