Requirements and Guidelines for the CPS Core

Beginning fall 2025, incoming undergraduate students to Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies will follow the CPS Core for general education and will not be subject to NUpath requirements. The CPS Core follows the New England Commission of Higher Education general education requirements: 

NECHE General Education Requirements (Standards for Accreditation, 2.6-2.7)

  • Undergraduate degree programs must include a “coherent and substantive” general education requirement
  • At least 40 semester hours in general education
  • Requires a balance of three traditional domains:
    • Arts and humanities
    • Sciences (including mathematics)
    • Social sciences
  • Course offerings focus on both subject matter and methodologies of the three domains and their relationships to each other

CPS students will need to complete the NECHE standards indicated above based on the subject prefix codes listed below. To ensure a balance across the three domains, students must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours in each of the areas: 

  • Arts and Humanities (AH), including at least 3 credit hours in college writing
  • Sciences (SC), including at least 3 credit hours in mathematics
  • Social Sciences (SS)

The remaining 4 CPS Core credit hours can be from any of the three categories.

CPS Core courses may also count toward degree program requirements.

College of Professional Studies Subject Codes That Fulfill the Core Requirements

Arts and Humanities

Sciences

Social Sciences

Per New York State Education Department regulations governing degree programs registered in New York state, students pursuing a degree through Northeastern University's New York City campus must complete a minimum number of credits or courses in the liberal arts and sciences as a condition of degree conferral, not as a matter of university discretion. The specific threshold is determined by degree type: a minimum of 45 LAS credits/courses for the Associate of Arts, 90 for the Bachelor of Arts, 60 for the Bachelor of Science, and 30 for specialized degrees such as a BFA. These minimums are set by NYSED and apply to any institution conferring these degree types within New York state; they are not a Northeastern policy choice and cannot be waived or modified at the institutional level.