Department of Basic Studies

The Department of Basic Studies serves highly motivated students who desire to pursue a college education but need additional academic preparation to enter four-year programs. These students fall in the following categories:

• Adult students who graduated from high school five or more years prior to admission and need refresher courses before being main-streamed into regular classes
• Students whose SAT or ACT test scores are too low for regular or limited admission into a four-year college
• Students who failed to complete required college preparatory courses while in high school.

The non-degree credit classes offered by this department are learning support courses in English, mathematics, and reading. In order to be admitted into the Department of Basic Studies, students may test into a maximum of two learning support areas.

To improve the chances that students admitted to Basic Studies will succeed, the Board of Regents has certain restrictions in place. While in Basic Studies, students are not eligible for fraternity or sorority membership or intercollegiate athletics participation. This policy indicates the seriousness with which students should approach the opportunity to remediate the deficiencies and exit Basic Studies.

Admission Requirements

Students who do not meet the requirements for admission to Columbus State University may be considered for admission to the Department of Basic Studies. Please refer to the undergraduate admissions section of this catalog for specific requirements.

Learning Support Requirements

Although institutional credit is granted for learning support courses, no degree credit is awarded. Students placed into learning support courses must be enrolled in required courses until all subject areas have been satisfied. These students must also complete the freshman seminar. Students may earn a maximum of 30 degree credits while enrolled in learning support courses, but may not enroll in degree credit courses which require the content and skills of learning support courses as prerequisites.

During each semester of enrollment a student must first register for all required learning support courses before being allowed to register for degree credit courses. There are two exceptions:

• When two learning support areas are required and a student is enrolled in at least one learning support course, then the freshman seminar or physical education or other activity or performance courses may be taken that semester instead of one of the required learning support courses.
• If a required learning support course is not available, a student may enroll in a course for degree credit if the student has met the course prerequisites.

Students who have accumulated 30 semester hours of college-level credit and have not successfully completed required learning support courses must enroll in only learning support courses until requirements are successfully completed. Students with transfer credit or credit earned in certificate or prior degree programs who are required to take learning support courses for their current degree objectives may earn up to 20 additional hours of college-level credit. After earning the additional hours, such students must enroll only in learning support courses.

Students with learning support requirements who are enrolled in both learning support courses and credit courses may not withdraw from the required learning support courses with a W unless they also withdraw from credit courses.

Students are eligible to take the COMPASS exam in English after successfully completing ENGL 0099. To exit the English subject area, students must pass an essay examination and must receive a minimum COMPASS score of 60. Students are eligible to take the COMPASS exam in reading after successfully completing READ 0099. To exit the reading subject area, students must receive a minimum COMPASS score of 75. Students are eligible to take the COMPASS exam in mathematics after successfully completing MATH 0098. To exit the mathematics subject area, students must receive a minimum COMPASS score of 37.

After two unsuccessful attempts to satisfy learning support English or reading, students are excluded from Basic Studies for one year. After three unsuccessful attempts to satisfy learning support math, students are excluded from Basic Studies for one year. Students may not be considered for readmission within one year of the exclusion.

Progression and Exit Requirements

All students referred to Basic Studies for further screening and subsequent enrollment must meet exit requirements before they are eligible to transfer to a four-year state institution. For traditional students, these include the completion of all learning support requirements and 30 semester hours of degree level credit with a minimum grade point average of 2.0. Students may transfer to a two-year state unit if they meet the freshman admission standards of that unit before completing the 30 semester hours of other requirements. Basic Studies students are limited to a maximum of two required learning support courses and approved courses in the core curriculum. In order to satisfy a CPC deficiency, a student must earn a minimum grade of "C" in the course used to satisfy the deficiency.