Designing Your Degree

One of the unique features of studying with Empire State College is the opportunity to design a degree program based on your individual goals.

As a student at the Center for Distance Learning (CDL), you will be invited to choose among hundreds of courses and learning activities within 12 broad areas of study. The one course that all CDL students take is educational planning. Educational planning provides a framework for the design of your degree program. In educational planning, you work closely with a faculty mentor to:

• assess your preparation for college.
• consider your personal, professional and educational goals.
• examine what you’ve already learned and how it may apply to your degree program, including:
  • transferring credits from other colleges
  • standardized tests
  • evaluations of noncollegiate sponsored learning such as licenses, certificates and work-related or military training
  • credit by evaluation for prior learning
• identify what you need to learn, and select courses and other study options, including:
  • CDL courses
  • guided independent study (learning contracts)
  • residencies and study groups (onsite intensive study programs)
• choose a concentration (similar to a major).
• plan, develop and articulate your degree program (sample degree programs are available).
• review degree requirements.

Once you and your advisor have agreed on your degree program, it is reviewed and approved by a faculty committee. The result is a personal degree program that meets your individual goals, integrates your prior learning and knowledge, and meets State University of New York and Empire State College degree requirements.