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2025-2026 College Catalog 
  
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2025-2026 College Catalog

General Education Core Curriculum Certificate

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Program Code: H.GAA.CRD

Graduation requirement: 38 credit hours

The General Education Core Curriculum (GECC) certificate enables students to fulfill the lower-division general education course requirements for the Associate in Arts (A.A.) degree and a bachelor’s degree. The completed certificate comprises two-thirds of the A.A. degree and one-third of most bachelor’s degrees and includes specific general education courses spread across five academic discipline areas.

Parkland College is a participant in the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI), a statewide transfer agreement which provides smooth transfer of credits among more than 100 participating colleges and universities in Illinois. A key component of the IAI is the agreement among participants to accept the completed GECC as a package in transfer in lieu of their own lower-division general education courses. GECC courses are all IAI approved courses with IAI descriptor numbers. 

A complete list of all Parkland courses with IAI codes can be found on the General Education Courses for Transfer Degrees  page.

Given that the transfer guarantee is on the GECC as a completed “package” and that course-to-course transfer credit is not part of this guarantee, students are strongly advised to complete the GECC certificate before transferring to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

The GECC Certificate is part of the transferable Associate in Arts degree; it is neither a workforce certificate nor an industry-recognized credential. Students who complete the GECC with a 3.5 GPA will receive honors and are eligible to participate in commencement.

Program Notes

  • More information about the Illinois Articulation Initiative can be found in the Academic Information and Policies  section. Also see the IAI website at www.itransfer.org.
  • Parkland College courses with IAI General Education Course Codes are listed below. As a general rule, students should choose courses with different IAI codes to fulfill GECC requirements. However, courses with the same IAI codes may be used if the courses lead to different learning outcomes. Students considering taking courses with the same IAI code to complete the GECC are strongly advised to speak with the dean of arts and sciences (X220) before registering.
  • Parkland College will recognize all courses on the IAI approved list of courses taken at any participating college or university for credit toward fulfilling Parkland College’s GECC requirements. In order to receive the GECC certificate from Parkland College, students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours of the GECC at Parkland College.
  • Students may use Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and College Level Examination Program (CLEP) scores to fulfill GECC requirements. For more information, see the Credit by Exam webpage. Students should note that transfer institutions will follow their institutional credit policies on the acceptance of standardized test scores.

General Education Core Curriculum Requirements (38 credit hours)

Note: One course taken in Humanities, Fine Arts, or Social/Behavioral Sciences must be a Non-Western culture course.

Communications: 3 courses (9 credit hours)

Take all three:

Social/Behavioral Sciences: 3 courses (9 credit hours)

Humanities and Fine Arts: 3 courses (9 credit hours)

Mathematics: 1 course (3 credit hours)

Physical and Life Sciences: 2 courses (8 credit hours)

 

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