General Education Curriculum
The SUNY General Education curriculum engages all undergraduate students in essential learning, giving them a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that are applicable throughout their various programs of study.
Important Note: Effective Fall 2023, SUNY is implementing a revised General Education program with new Student Learning Outcomes.
For students who first matriculated at Purchase or another SUNY school prior to the fall of 2023, please refer to the Requirements for Students Admitted Prior to Fall 2023. These requirements are also known as the “Core Curriculum Requirements” within the Course Search and student Degree Progress Reports.
For students who matriculated at Purchase on or after Fall 2023, please refer to the Requirements for Students Admitted Fall 2023 and later. These requirements are also known as “General Education 2023” within the course search and student Degree Progress Reports.
These requirements are shared across all 64 SUNY campuses— in other words, meeting a general education requirement at Purchase satisfies that requirement at any SUNY campus, and vice versa. Each SUNY school has the authority to approve their own courses for each area.
Students must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of core curriculum/General Education 2023 in order to fully satisfy the requirements. So, in addition to satisfying each individual area with a minimum of 3 semester hours of credit, they must have completed at least 30 semester hours in total to fully satisfy the core curriculum/general education 2023 requirements.
The student’s advisor and the Registrar monitor each student’s progress toward the fulfillment of requirements; however, the final responsibility for completing the requirements rests with the student. Questions about which set of requirements a students should fall under (i.e. “Core Curriculum Requirements” or “General Education 2023”) should be directed to the Registrar.