A minimum of 60 semester credit hours (excluding any college preparatory and remedial courses and any courses numbered below the 100 level) is required for the awarding of an associate degree.
A minimum of 120 semester credit hours (excluding any college preparatory and remedial courses and any courses numbered below the 100 level) is required for the awarding of a baccalaureate degree. This includes a minimum of 42 semester credit hours in upper-level courses.
A minimum of 25% of all required semester hours for degree completion must be earned at Kentucky State University. At least one-half of a student's major field academic requirements must be earned at Kentucky State University. In order to receive an associate or a baccalaureate degree from Kentucky State University, a student must complete at least 30 of the last 36 semester credit hours, or 12 of the last 15 semester credit hours, respectively, at the University. Courses taken under the Study Abroad program, National Exchange Student program, or as online courses (and for which students pay their tuition to Kentucky State University) are considered as courses taken at the University for the purposes of the residency requirement. Any credit hours taken outside of the University must be taken from another regionally accredited post-secondary institution in accordance with University transfer policy.
Graduation honors are awarded only to baccalaureate degree students who have earned at least 60 semester credit hours at Kentucky State University. Students who maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.8 and who have received no grades of D or F in any attempt at a course are awarded the baccalaureate degree summa cum laude. Students who maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.5 and who have received no grades of D or F in any attempt at a course are awarded the baccalaureate degree magna cum laude. Students who maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.2 or have maintained a GPA of 3.5 or higher but have received a D or F in any attempt of a course are awarded the baccalaureate degree cum laude.
The baccalaureate degree or the associate degree with departmental honors will be conferred upon the student who, in addition to having completed the requirements for the degree, shall have maintained a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 and a GPA of at least 3.3 in courses required for the major. In computing academic major grade-point averages, all courses taken in a major will be counted. To be considered for academic program honors, one or two years of residence work at Kentucky State University are required of associate or baccalaureate degree recipients, respectively, with at least half of the major courses taken at the University.
The program will recognize graduating seniors who accumulate a minimum of 200 service hours. Students will need to document the impact of their service. The application will typically require, but is not limited to, the submission of a digital service portfolio. The Office of Regional Stewardship will oversee and offer specific guidelines and procedures for the program. The students will receive a service honor cord to wear on their graduation robes and a Community Service Certificate of Achievement.
All students must register with the Office of Regional Stewardship (ORS) to begin their first service engagement. The ORS will conduct registration drives in UNV (University orientation) courses, and the office is also open to students year-round. All service hours must be completed with an approved agency on the ORS's Partner Agency List. Students can request agencies in their hometown be added to the list. Working with an agency who has not subscribed through the office could result in earned service hours not being accepted by the university. Hours can be tracked through existing advising software.