Deadlines for Filing

Second Bachelor's Degree

Honors Recognition

BACHELOR'S DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
1. Total Credits:
A minimum of 120 semester hours must be earned by every undergraduate student to be eligible to graduate from Northeastern. Effective with the Fall 1993 semester, all entering students must complete a minimum of 42 semester hours at the upper division level.

2. Academic Major and Minor:
Undergraduate students must complete a major and a minor or an approved additional area of study (second major, cognate, or professional sequence).
In order to declare a major or change a minor the "Request for Assignment to or Change of Academic Major" form must be completed. The procedure is as follows:
1) Obtain form from the dean's or department chairperson's office.
Form is to be completed and presented to the department chairperson of the intended major.
2) Upon approval by the department chairperson and former Academic/University Advisor, the form is submitted to the Admissions and Records Office.
3) Students may follow this procedure at any time throughout the school year.

3. Residency:
The last 30 consecutive credit hours must be taken at Northeastern.

4. General Education Program:
All undergraduate students must complete the General Education Program requirements.

5. English Composition Requirement:
All entering students (effective Fall 1992) must successfully complete English 101 or its equivalent. All students admitted after Summer 1993 must meet the English requirement with a grade of "C" or better. This requirement should be completed in the freshman year in order to ensure that students have the necessary writing skills to complete their studies.

6. Academic College:
All undergraduates must also satisfy the requirements of the individual college (College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business and Management, College of Education).

7. Grade Point Average:
To be eligible to graduate, a student must have a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA (overall "C" average). Some academic programs and departments have other specific grade requirements. Check with your academic advisor.

8. Constitution Requirement:
All undergraduate students enrolled in state universities must meet the requirements of Senate Bill 195 which requires knowledge of the U.S. and Illinois State Constitutions. This requirement can be met by:
1) passing an examination given through the Political Science Department, OR
2) passing PSCI-AMER-216#

9. Improving Human Relations Requirement:
House Bill Number 0094 of the 87th General Assembly of the State of Illinois requires "each public institution of higher education to include, in the general education requirements for obtaining a degree, course work on improving human relations to include race, ethnicity, gender and other issues related to improving human relations to address racism and sexual harassment on their campuses, through existing courses."

10. English Language Competency Requirement:
Every undergraduate student must pass the English Language Competency Exam offered regularly through the Assessment and Testing Office.

11. Mathematics Competency Requirement:
Students must demonstrate competency in quantitative reasoning at a collegiate level. Students can fulfill this requirement in one of the following ways:
1) A grade of "C" or higher in a mathematics or statistics course having MATH-102 Intermediate Algebra as a stated prerequisite. Specific course information can be found in the current Schedule of Classes.
2) Transfer credit with a grade of "C" or better in a course equivalent to the courses listed in the current Schedule of Classes as meeting the Mathematics Competency requirement, or in Calculus I or Business Calculus.
3) A score on the Northeastern Mathematics placement test to indicate placement in Calculus I, or a score of three or higher on the Advanced Placement (AP) calculus test.
4) An AA or AS degree from a community college meeting the standards of the Illinois Community College Board Model. To meet the mathematics competency requirement, a student must earn a grade of "C" or better in the mathematics course transferred from the community college.
5) Completion of one of the majors or minors listed below:
College of Arts and Sciences
Biology major
Chemistry major
Computer Science major or minor
Earth Science major
Physics major or minor
Economics major or minor
Mathematics major or minor
Psychology major

College of Business and Management
Accounting major or minor
Business Law minor
Finance major or minor
General Business Administration major
International Business minor
Marketing major or minor
Management major or minor

College of Education
ISBE Certificate for:
Early Childhood
Elementary Education
Secondary Education
Special Education

12. Computer/Information Literacy Requirement:
The scope of this requirement is determined by a student's major area of study. To fulfill this graduation requirement, a student must demonstrate the ability to use word processing, the NEIU Library on-line catalogue and index databases, and at least one of the following:
1) e mail/bitnet/Internet
2) database management program
3) spreadsheet program
4) statistics program
5) line-editing program
6) graphic design program
7) computer-assisted design (CAD)
8) programming language
9) MIDI
10) specialized bibliographic database search
11) cartography program
12) accounting program
13) modeling or simulation program
14) computer assisted instruction

The third component of the computer/literacy requirement will be identified by each program for its majors. Students should contact the chair of their major program of study to begin work on this requirement.

13. Professional Education Requirements:
Students planning to teach at the elementary level must:
1) be admitted to the College of Education;
2) be admitted to the Elementary Education Program;
3) complete all departmental requirements, and
4) present a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.75 (on a 4.0 scale)

Students planning to teach at the secondary level must:
1) be admitted to the College offering the academic major of their choice;
2) be admitted to the Teacher Education Program offered through the College of Education; and
3) present a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 (on a 4.0 scale)

Students planning to teach in Special Education must:
1) be admitted to the College of Education;
2) complete all departmental requirements; and
3) present a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.75 (on a 4.0 scale)

Prospective high school teachers are advised to prepare in more than one subject area by electing a second major or some combination of a major and one or more minors.

FILING FOR GRADUATION
Students must submit an Application for Graduation, completed Academic Course Records forms for major and minor (if applicable), and the Student Opinion Survey to the Office of Admissions and Records when the following have been completed:
1) A minimum of 85 hours of credit has been earned.
2) Student has been formally accepted by his/her major department and minor department (if applicable).

DEADLINES FOR FILING THE APPLICATION FOR GRADUATION FORM

Month of Anticipated Completion of Degree Requirements	Filing Deadline
May	Previous September 15
August	Previous January 20
December	Previous May 16

Each student anticipating graduation is totally responsible for filing the appropriate forms by the above deadlines. A student who files the required forms but fails to complete all graduation requirements by the appropriate date will be dropped from the graduation list and must reapply for a later graduation date by completing a Change of Graduation Date form available at the Admissions and Records Information Counter.

SECOND BACHELOR'S DEGREE
Students who wish to earn a second bachelor's degree must submit a completed Northeastern undergraduate application form and an official college transcript from a regionally accredited institution which awarded the first baccalaureate degree to the Office of Admissions.

HONORS RECOGNITION
Baccalaureate degree students who graduate with at least a 3.5 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) will be awarded Honors recognition:

cum laude (with distinction)	3.5-3.74 GPA
magna cum laude (with great distinction)	3.75-3.89
summa cum laude (with highest distinction)	3.9-4.0 GPA

If you have any questions regarding degree requirements please contact our Graduation Evaluations Office at 773/794-3080.