2021-2022 Academic Catalog and Student Handbook 
    
    Nov 23, 2024  
2021-2022 Academic Catalog and Student Handbook [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

General Studies (A.A.)*


A.A. Degree: 62 Hours

The Associate of Arts degree is designed to allow a student who plans to transfer to a four-year college or university to complete the general education requirements. Of the 62 credit hours required, students must complete a designated core of general education courses and subject distributions; the remaining hours will consist of electives that are numbered 100 or higher.

Institutional Requirement - 2 Credit Hours


General Education Requirements - 42 Credit Hours


CORE 42 is a statewide general education course of study intended to ensure that all graduates possess a common core of college-level skills and knowledge. CORE 42 specifies the basic competencies and knowledge areas that all students completing degrees at a Missouri public institution of higher education must complete. CORE 42 is comprised of dozens of courses distributed across five knowledge areas. These courses are designated with a Missouri Transfer (MOTR) course number, which guarantees the one-to-one transfer of these courses among all Missouri public institutions of higher education. Please refer to MDHE Core Transfer Curriculum for detailed information on CORE 42 courses.

All knowledge areas below, designated with the CORE 42 logo indicate all courses in that area have been evaluated and provided a MOTR number for transfer to all Missouri public institutions of higher education.

Mathematical Sciences - 3 Credit Hours


OTC math courses approved with CORE 42 designation (MTH 128, MTH 128S, MTH 130, MTH 130S, MTH 138) have guaranteed transfer to all Missouri public higher education institutions.  Any math course with a CORE 42 prerequisite will satisfy the math general education credit.  The higher level math courses may not have direct transfer to all four-year universities.  Students should check with their receiving institution for transferability of these courses.

Written Communication - 6 Credit Hours


Oral Communication - 3 Credit Hours


Core Electives - 5 Credit Hours


Any course with an approved MOTR number or additional hours from a MOTR approved course can be utilized to fulfill the Core electives requirement.  Credit received from an OTC course may be greater than the MOTR transfer equivalency.  The additional credit provided form OTC for a MOTR approved course will move the additional credit to the Core electives (e.g. CHM 160 at OTC = 4 credit hours, MOTR equivalency = 3 credit hours; additional 1 hour moved to Core electives).

Institutional Electives - 18 Credit Hours


The A.A. degree at OTC requires the completion of 62 credit hours.  The 18 elective hours for this category can consist of any course numbered 100 or higher from any area of study that a student is eligible to enroll.  For the most accurate transferability of a course, a student should contact the institution to which they plan to transfer.