Lansing Community College
Procedure Details

Procedure Title: Associate of Arts and Associate of Science Electives Course Review
Procedure #: AA.029
Revision #: 000

Unit Responsible: Academic Affairs
Individual Responsible: Academic Affairs Project Manager

Effective Date: 02/02/2024
Initial Approval Date: 02/02/2024
Last Review/Update Date: 02/02/2024
Next Review Date: 02/2027

*Does this procedure support a Board Policy? Yes
If yes, identify: 3.050-Approval of New Courses and Programs, 3.060-Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes, 3.160–Program Review

Board policies can be found at: LCC Board of Trustees Policy Page

*Does this procedure support HLC criteria? Yes
If yes, identify: 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B

HLC Criteria can be found at: HLC Accreditation Criteria

*Does this procedure support a State or Federal Regulation? No
If yes, identify: N/A

*Note: Standard Operating Procedures should be in furtherance of some LCC policy and/or accreditation criteria, even if the relationship is not direct. Assistance in determining this information can be obtained from the Academic Procedure Advisory Committee (APAC) and/or the Accreditation Liaison Officer.

Associate of Arts and Associate of Science Electives Course Review, BP 3.050, BP 3.060, BP 3.160

1. Purpose

To ensure that all courses on the Associate of Arts and Associate of Science (AA & AS) Electives list of Lansing Community College (LCC) continue to meet LCC’s Electives requirements.


2. Scope

This procedure applies to all courses on the LCC AA & AS Electives list.


3. Prerequisites

As an overall transfer issue, rather than as one of particular Program Pathways, the LCC AA & AS Electives list is maintained by Academic Affairs.

For inclusion on the LCC AA & AS Electives list, courses must transfer to at least 4 of the top 9 university transfer destinations of LCC students, with at least 2 of the transfers being either as an equivalent course (rather than ordinary general credit) or as general credit specifically designated by the receiving university for use in an appropriate general education category.

The top 9 university transfer destinations of LCC students are the following:

  • Central Michigan University (CMU)
  • Davenport University (DU)
  • Eastern Michigan University (EMU)
  • Ferris State University (FSU)
  • Grand Valley State University (GVSU)
  • Michigan State University (MSU)
  • University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (UM-Ann Arbor)
  • University of Michigan-Flint (UM-Flint)
  • Western Michigan University (WMU)


4. Responsibilities

  • Academic Affairs Project Manager (AAPM) – Responsible for overseeing this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
  • Associate Deans/Directors of programs, or designees – Responsible for working with transfer partner universities if desiring reevaluation of their courses for transfer.
  • The Director of Academic Quality (DAQ) – Responsible for assisting program areas in working with transfer partner universities as requested.
  • Course Information Management Team (CIMT) representatives – Responsible for ensuring that any Program Pathways affected by changes to the LCC AA & AS Electives list are updated accordingly and then sent to the Director of Academic Operations (DAO) for review.
  • Director of Academic Operations (DAO) – Responsible for reviewing Program Pathways for correctness regarding AA & AS Electives issues and, with the Academic Affairs Project Coordinator (AAPC), for maintaining and updating the AA & AS Electives webpage.
  • The Academic Affairs Project Coordinator (AAPC) – Responsible, with the DAO, for maintaining and updating the AA & AS Electives webpage.
  • The Business Analyst – Degree Works – Responsible for maintaining and updating AA & AS Electives list(s) in Degree Works.


5. Procedure

  1. Biennially, in preparation for even-numbered curricular years, the AAPM uses internet resources such as mitransfer.org to research whether courses on the LCC AA & AS Electives list transfer to at least 4 of the top 9 university transfer destinations of LCC students, with at least 2 of the transfers being either as an equivalent course (rather than ordinary general credit) or as general credit specifically designated by the receiving university for use in an appropriate general education category.
  2. The AAPM produces a spreadsheet listing any LCC AA & AS Electives courses that do not meet the above transfer criteria, specifying for each such course its type(s) of transfer, if any, to all of the top 9 university transfer destinations of LCC students.
  3. For any LCC AA & AS Electives courses that do not meet LCC’s transfer criteria for AA & AS Electives, the AAPM emails the course transfer details to the appropriate Associate Deans/Directors, the DAO, and CIMT, also cc’ing the DAQ as a resource for assisting program areas in working with transfer partner universities if desired.
  4. Associate Deans/Directors of programs, or designees, desiring reevaluation of their courses for transfer will work with transfer partner universities to determine if an updated evaluation, whether of the existing course or whether after any appropriate updates to the course via the Revised Course Approval SOP, will increase transferability.
  5. The DAQ will assist Associate Deans/Directors of programs, or designees, in working with transfer partner universities as requested.
  6. When notified by LCC program areas and/or transfer partner universities of increased transferability of any course(s) in question, the AAPM will confirm via internet resources such as mitransfer.org and update the spreadsheet of LCC AA & AS Electives course transfer as needed.
  7. The AAPM produces a final spreadsheet listing any LCC AA & AS Electives course(s) that, due to not meeting LCC’s transfer criteria for AA & AS Electives, will be removed from the LCC AA & AS Electives list, along with any courses that will be reinstated to the LCC AA & AS Electives list.
  8. The AAPM via email notifies appropriate Associate Deans/Directors of programs, DAO, CIMT, AAPC, Registrar, Associate Registrar, Degree and Academic Record Coordinator, Business Analyst – Degree Works, and general and program advisors of any current LCC AA & AS Electives courses that will be removed from the LCC AA & AS Electives list for the upcoming curricular year, along with any courses that will be reinstated to the LCC AA & AS Electives list for the upcoming curricular year.
    1. Courses removed from the LCC AA & AS Electives list for a given curricular year still remain usable for AA & AS Electives by Program Pathways of previous curricular years until Pathway expiry, and will be shown as such on the LCC AA & AS Electives webpage.
    2. Any courses reinstated to the LCC AA & AS Electives list for a given curricular year will be usable for AA & AS Electives by Program Pathways of any curricular year.
  9. CIMT representatives ensure that any Program Pathways for the upcoming curricular year that are affected by changes to the LCC AA & AS Electives list are updated accordingly.
  10. CIMT representatives send any updated Program Pathways for the upcoming curricular year to the DAO for review.
  11. The DAO reviews updated Program Pathways for the upcoming curricular year, correcting them in the event of any errors.
  12. The DAO and AAPC update the LCC AA & AS Electives webpage with any changes to the LCC AA & AS Electives list for the coming curricular.
  13. The Business Analyst – Degree Works – updates all applicable curricular years in Degree Works with any changes to the LCC AA & AS Electives list.


6. Reference


7. Definitions

Associate of Arts and Associate of Science (AA & AS) Electives – courses usable by any AA or AS degree for reaching the minimum 60 credits in cases when a given Program Pathway is designed to be under 60 credits when all other General Education and program requirements are completed.

  • A course’s inclusion on, or removal from, the LCC AA & AS Electives list does not affect its potential use in any of the following:
    • an AA or AS degree already designed to reach 60 credits when all other General Education and program requirements are completed;
    • an applied Associate Degree;
    • a Certificate of Completion or Certificate of Achievement.

Degree Works – a software product to audit student completion toward an academic program.

  • In the event of deletions of LCC courses from the LCC AA & AS Electives list, Degree Works will be programmed with different AA & AS Elective lists for Program Pathways of different curricular years.