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UW Tacoma has established minimum general education and basic skills requirements for bachelor's degrees. Each academic program and major meets or exceeds these minimum requirements. The University also requires a minimum of 180 quarter credits to earn a bachelor's degree. To reach a total of 180 credits, most students need additional credit other than just those required for their major. Therefore, you may use electives to meet General Education Requirement deficiencies or general electives.

There are five main components to the General Education Requirements at the University: English Composition [C], Additional Writing [W], Reasoning [RSN], Areas of Inquiry (AoI. Areas of Inquiry are made up of Arts and Humanities [A&H], Social Sciences [SSc] and Natural Sciences [NSc].

General Education Requirements Diagram

Minimum General Education Requirements

  • 15 credits in writing to include no fewer than 5 credits in English composition [C] and 10 additional credits in writing-intensive [W] courses
  • 5 credits in Reasoning [RSN] (Students enrolled in college prior to 1985 are exempt from this requirement.)
  • 5 credits (min) in diversity coursework (For students admitted as of Autumn 2023.)
  • 40 credits of Areas of Inquiry [AoI] courses including no fewer than 10 credits in each area of study:

    Arts and Humanities [A&H]

    Social Sciences [SSc]

    Natural Sciences [NSc]

Arts and Humanities [A&H]

The intent of this requirement is for students to become familiar with the methodologies, contributions, and limitations of artistic and humanistic inquiry, broadly defined. (Updated Winter Quarter 2023)

Social Sciences [SSc]

The intent of this requirement is for students to become familiar with the methodologies, contributions, and limitations of social science inquiry, broadly defined. (Updated Winter Quarter 2023)

The Natural Sciences [NSc]

The intent of this requirement is for students to become familiar with the methodologies, contributions, and limitations of natural science inquiry, broadly defined. (Updated Winter Quarter 2023)

Diversity [DIV]

Courses that meet the Diversity (DIV) requirement study diversity in the United States with focus on the sociocultural, political, and/or economic diversity of the human experience and help students develop an understanding of the complexities of living in increasingly diverse and interconnected societies.