Graduation Requirements and Procedures

All students seeking an Associate of Arts or a Bachelor's degree must satisfy the following degree requirements as established by the Florida Board of Education. You are required to complete a minimum of 60 hours of transferable college-level credit to receive an A.A. degree. Florida State Board of Education Administrative Rule 6A-10.024 (3a) requires 36 semester hours of general education courses, excluding college prep courses. The remaining 24 credit hours are elective credits.

Graduates must meet the requirements of the College-Level Communication and Computational Skills Administrative Rule (Rule 6A-10.030, formerly known as the Gordon Rule) and a state-mandated foreign language requirement. Graduates must also have completed the Civic Literacy Competency Administrative Rule by successfully passing either POS2041, American Federal Government, or AMH2020, United States History 1865 to Present, or by achieving a standard score on AP Government and Politics: United States, AP United States History, or CLEP: American Government (Rule 6A-10.02413). You also must meet the Daytona State College residency requirements (see below).

Students seeking a Bachelor's degree, Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science, or certificate must have a cumulative 2.0 GPA, a Daytona State 2.0 GPA and meet the Daytona State College residency requirements (see below).

SLS1122 – Managing your Success is required for the Associate of Arts degree. It is strongly recommended that the course be taken in the first semester of coursework. Students enrolled in an active bachelor's program are not required to complete SLS1122.

Completion of a course designated as a Cultural/Global Focus Area course is required for students seeking an Associate of Arts within the General Education curriculum or as an elective before graduation. These courses are outlined under the Requirements for Associate of Arts Degree. In addition to the courses in the General Education Curriculum, EDF2085, Introduction to Diversity for Educators, also satisfies this graduation requirement.

Students must earn a “C” or better in all General Education courses to graduate with an AA degree. 

Students who have graduated with an Associate of Arts or higher degree from a Florida state college or university will have satisfied General Education requirements. Students who have graduated from any other U.S. regionally accredited institution with a bachelor's degree or higher will have satisfied General Education requirements. 

Students graduating from a vocational certificate program must have earned a 2.0 GPA in their program-specific classes and meet the Daytona State College residency requirements (see below). Students must also satisfy the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) requirements for their vocational certificate program or meet the criteria for an exemption. All placement test score results, and test scores used for exemption to the placement test, are valid for 2 years.Grade forgiveness applies when students repeat the same course in which they earned a "D" or "F" grade. The highest earned grade will be used in the calculation of GPA and graduation requirements. (A subsequent "W" grade will not replace an earned grade.) Students may not repeat the same course to improve a "C" grade or better.

Students enrolled in an online bachelor’s degree program, are required to complete it within three (3) years of reaching 75% of the program’s total credits needed to graduate. 

Courses in Residency

The Daytona State College residency requirements are an overall 25 percent of degree requirements, 25 percent of program-specific classes, a cumulative 2.0 GPA and a Daytona State 2.0 of GPA. For bachelor's degree students, in addition to meeting the 25 percent overall residency requirement, a minimum of 25 percent of the upper-level program-specific credits must be completed at Daytona State College.

For instance, if your bachelor's degree program requires 42 upper-level program-specific credits, at least 10.5 of these must be completed at Daytona State, or if your bachelor's program requires 60 upper-level program-specific credits, at least 15 of these must be completed at Daytona State.

In addition, students can only earn a maximum of 25 percent of degree requirements through experiential learning, i.e. APLE. Credits earned by active US military members are excluded from this requirement.

Second Associate of Arts Degree

Students who transfer to Daytona State College, or who have previously earned an Associate of Arts or Baccalaureate degree from another college, are not normally allowed acceptance to the A.A. program. The only exception to this policy would be for a student whose transcript evaluation indicates that at least 15 credits (including the foreign language requirement) are needed to meet our A.A. degree requirements, indicating that the prior education is not comparable. Students transferring with a prior degree, A.A. or higher, are not allowed enrollment in the A.A. program to rehabilitate their GPA or to meet university prerequisites. Students with a prior A.A. degree or higher are encouraged to enroll as non-matriculated students and take courses that meet their personal and career goals. Normally, a non-matriculated student is not eligible for student financial assistance, but non-matriculated students who are taking specific prerequisite courses for a Daytona State College limited access program will be eligible for student loans.

Foreign Language Requirements for A.A. and Bachelor's

Students who are enrolled in DSC’s Associate of Arts degree or a baccalaureate degree program are required to meet foreign language requirements.  One of the following options can meet this requirement:

• Completion of two credits (two years) of sequential high school foreign language instruction in one language other than English with a passing grade each year as documented on an official high school transcript.
• Completion of two college semesters of the same foreign language, with a passing grade in each course to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language at the elementary two level or above.
• Passing Advanced Placement (AP), Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education Program (AICE), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or other DSC recognized testing equivalent to the sequence of two college credit courses in one foreign language.

Foreign and Sign Language courses satisfy elective credits toward the A.A. degree. All A.A. and Bachelor's degree recipients must meet the foreign language requirement. This requirement satisfies foreign language proficiency at Daytona State College. It may not satisfy a specific university graduation requirement.  Students should contact the institution they are interested in attending to find out their requirements.

Florida Statute 1007.25

Catalog Year

Students are required to follow the degree requirements as listed in the catalog for the year in which they began enrollment as a degree seeking student with DSC. If a student misses two or more consecutive major semesters (fall and spring) a student must be readmitted to the college and their catalog year will be updated to current catalog year, for advising and graduation purposes.

Graduation Application

The graduation application is completed online when students are in their last term. Students log in to their MyDaytonaState portal to apply and pay the applicable graduation fee. The application will then be sent to the department chair for approval. Students who complete all graduation requirements and pay the graduation fee are entitled to receive a diploma and participate in the May commencement ceremony. Daytona State reserves the right to certify students as graduates/completers once they complete all requirements for the degree or certificate, regardless if they completed an application for graduation. Students who do apply for graduation after completing requirements will not receive a diploma but may have the degree or certificate earned statement on their official transcript. Students will be notified of the degree or certificate earned and will have the opportunity to pay the graduation fee to receive their diploma. Completers are no longer eligible to receive student financial assistance.

Graduation deadline dates are located on the Academic Calendar or the Records and Registration web page. Certain priority deadlines will apply for inclusion in the commencement booklet.

Students who complete all degree requirements are no longer eligible to receive student financial assistance for their current degree program.

Students not meeting graduation requirements must reapply for the new term/semester for which they are applying.

Students must fulfill all financial and other obligations to the college before receiving their degree or certificate.

Commencement ceremonies for degree, certificate and adult education candidates are held in May. Students who complete graduation requirements in the previous fall and those who have applied for graduation at the end of the summer semester, are encouraged to participate in commencement ceremonies in May. The Records Office will inform students of the date and time for the ceremony for their degree level.

Students are responsible for determining if they have fulfilled graduation requirements. A Degree Audit is available on My.DaytonaState.edu student services. We encourage all students to run a degree audit before applying for graduation. Assistance can be obtained from the Academic Advising Office for graduation check downs, as well as from the academic department for career/occupational programs. Students may be permitted to substitute requirements upon completion of a substitution form signed by the appropriate program manager/program chairperson and Dean/AVP if it is determined that the substitution does not substantially alter the program and is in the student's best interest.

Students typically follow the degree requirements as listed in the catalog for the year in which they began enrollment as a degree seeking student. If a student misses two or more consecutive major semesters (fall or spring) a student must be readmitted to the college and their catalog year will be updated for advising purposes. However, students may request to use the graduation requirements in effect the year they entered the college as a degree-seeking student, or any year in which they were enrolled if the requirements have changed.

NOTE: The academic requirements or degree audits are designed to provide a general guide that will lead to graduation. As a guide, students will still need to meet college policies, procedures, and graduation requirements regardless of what the academic requirements or degree audits indicate. Prior to officially graduating, Records will review credentials and verify that all requirements have been satisfied.  

Awarding Posthumous Degree Policy

A.  A posthumous degree may be awarded upon request provided it is submitted to the Records Office within two years after the death.

B.  The request must be accompanied by:

1.  Student’s full name.
2.  Daytona State College student ID or SSN.
3.  Copy of the death certificate.
4.  Address where the diploma will be mailed.

C.  The student should meet the following criteria:

1.  Must have been a degree-seeking student.
2.  Must have been enrolled at time of death (summer excluded), or their continuous enrollment was interrupted by their injury, illness, deployment, etc.
3.  Must have been within one term or 15 credits of graduation to be considered for a posthumous degree.
4.  Must have completed at least one term required for the degree at Daytona State College.
5.  Must meet the standard graduation eligibility criteria for GPA and academic standing.
6.  Must be in good discipline standing at the time of the request.

D.  The posthumous degree shall not be included in any state or federal reporting data.

E.  Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the College.