Texas Core Curriculum
The "Core Curriculum" is defined as "...the curriculum in the liberal arts, humanities, sciences, and political, social, and cultural history, that all undergraduates of a public institution of higher education [college or university] are required to complete before receiving an associate or baccalaureate degree."
Each public college or university in Texas will have its core curriculum listed in their undergraduate catalog (most Texas public colleges and universities will have this item online), and will also list each lower-division course that is substantially equivalent to an academic course listed in the current edition of the Community College General Academic Course Guide Manual.
Each university must identify at least 45 semester credit hours of academic courses that are substantially equivalent to courses listed in the Community College General Academic Course Guide Manual including those that fulfill the lower-division portion of the institution's core curriculum.
All public colleges and universities must accept transfer of credit for successfully completed courses identified above as applicable to an associate or baccalaureate degree in the same manner as credit awarded to non-transfer students in that major.
Each institution shall be required to accept in transfer into a baccalaureate degree the number of lower-division credit hours in a major which are allowed for their non-transfer students in that major; however,
- No college or university is required to accept in transfer more credit hours in a major than the number set out in the applicable Coordinating Board approved Transfer Curriculum for that major, as described in the Coordinating Board's guide to transfer curricula and transfer of credit, Transfer of Credit Policies and Curricula.
- In any major for which there is no Coordinating Board approved transfer curriculum, no institution shall be required to accept in transfer more lower-division course credit in the major applicable to a baccalaureate degree than the institution allows their non-transfer students in that major.
- A university may deny the transfer of credit in courses with a grade of "D" as applicable to the student's field of study courses, core curriculum courses, or major if it denies credit in those same courses with a grade of "D" to its native students.
All senior institutions (four-year colleges and universities) of higher education in Texas shall provide support services for transfer students equivalent to those provided to non-transfer students regularly enrolled at the institutions, including an orientation program for transfer students equivalent to that provided for entering freshman enrollees.
No university shall be required to accept in transfer or toward a degree, more than 66 semester credit hours of academic credits earned by a student in a community college. Universities, however, may choose to accept additional credit hours.
