CUNY Baccalaureate Program

Established in 1971, the City University of New York Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies (CUNY BA) provides students with a flexible, academically challenging way to earn their degree while giving them a major share of the responsibility for the content of that degree.

CUNY Baccalaureate serves highly motivated students who have the vision and drive to design their own degrees. Working with CUNY faculty mentors, students design their own specializations (“Areas of Concentration”) tailored to help them achieve their academic and career goals. The degree has three primary components: a General Education Requirement, the Area of Concentration (or two), and electives. These degree elements provide a balance between structure and flexibility that gives ample opportunity for innovation and creativity while ensuring that the degree students earn has academic merit and validity.

CUNY Baccalaureate students are encouraged to take advantage of the enormous range of academic opportunities offered in CUNY by registering for courses at different colleges. With the appropriate permissions, qualified students may take graduate courses for undergraduate credit at the CUNY senior colleges and at The Graduate Center. Independent study and internships are another way for students to individualize their degrees. Students can enrich their undergraduate experience by earning up to 30 credits for non-collegiate work, such as credit by examination. Of those 30 non-collegiate credits, a maximum of 15 credits can be earned for properly documented prior experiential learning (life experience credits).

CUNY Baccalaureate maintains high academic standards. Students must have at least a 2.8 cumulative average to be admitted and must maintain at least a 2.50 overall and in their Area(s) of Concentration in order to remain in the program and receive the degree. CUNY Baccalaureate students are regularly among the recipients of prestigious awards and scholarships in and beyond CUNY. Over 50% graduate with academic honors and over 50% go on to graduate school.

In addition to being part of CUNY Baccalaureate, each student must be matriculated in a CUNY college. This is the student's home college where he or she pays tuition and fees, handles non-academic matters, such as financial aid, and takes the university entrance and placement tests.

For more information prospective and current CUNY BA students should contact CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies at 212.817.8220 or cunyba@gc.cuny.edu, or visit the office at 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016.