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1. Introduction

A Graduate Certificate Program (GCP) is a prescribed set of regular graduate level academic courses, designed by an academic department or program and taken for credit by lifelong education students (PBS) and/or current degree program students.

2. Minimum Requirements for Graduate Certificate Programs

Below are the minimum requirements for Graduate Certificate Programs. Individual programs may develop additional requirements.

2.1. Certificates will be titled "Graduate Certificate in______."

2.2. Courses required in the GCP must be regular graduate level academic courses (approved by the Administrative Board of the Graduate School). Up to one course (for a maximum of 4 credit hours) may be at the 400 level.

2.3. The minimum number of credits required for a GCP is 12.

2.4. To receive a Graduate Certificate, a student must have a minimum 3.0 average on all certificate course work. All grades on courses taken towards the certificate program in courses numbered 400 and above are included in the graduate grade point average (GPA). Courses at the 300 level and below are not eligible for certificate credit and subsequently do not affect the graduate GPA.

2.5. The minimum grade to receive certificate credit should be established by the department/program but can be no lower than a grade of "C-".

2.6. GCP students who take 400-, 500- and 700-level courses which are letter graded do not have the option of taking the courses for "credit only" if they intend for the course to be part of their GCP.

2.7. Transfer credit from other institutions is not allowed for GCP. All course work must be registered for through NC State University.

2.8. All GCP requirements must be completed within four (4) calendar years, beginning with the date the student commences courses applicable to the GCP, unless a more restrictive time limit has been established by the program or academic college/school.

3. Transferring GCP Courses to a Master's Program

Transferring courses from the Graduate Certificate Program to a Master's degree program will follow the official Graduate School guidelines, which state "at least 18 hours of the minimum 30 hours required for the Master's degree must be graduate credits earned while the student is enrolled in a graduate classification at NC State." The remaining 12 credit hours, or more depending on the requirements of the specific program, may be transferred from graduate credit earned while enrolled in a Graduate Certificate Program at NC State University.

4. Completion of Additional Certificates

A student may obtain more than one certificate. Each certificate must have at least nine (9) credit hours that are unique to it.