PREREQUISITES, COREQUISITES AND RECOMMENDED
PREPARATION FOR COURSES
The colleges of the Rancho Santiago Community College District have
adopted a policy on course prerequisites, corequisites, and advisories
in order to provide for the establishing, reviewing, and challenging of
prerequisites, corequisites on recommended preparation, and certain
limitations on enrollment in a manner consistent with law and good
practice. The policy, which is specified for implementation as an
administrative regulation, is established pursuant to regulations contained
in Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 55200) of Sub Chapter 1 of
Chapter 6 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations. The RSCCD Board of Trustees recognizes that if these prerequisites, corequisites, and
limitations are established unnecessarily or inappropriately, they constitute
unjustifiable obstacles to student access and success and, therefore, the
Board adopts this policy which calls for caution and careful scrutiny in
establishing them. Nonetheless, the board also recognizes that it is as
important to have prerequisites in place where they are a vital factor in
maintaining academic standards and in assuring the health and safety
of students as it is to avoid establishing prerequisites where they are not
needed. For these reasons, the Board has sought to establish a policy that
fosters the appropriate balance between these two concerns.
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
If a student should see the words Prerequisite or Corequisite in the catalog, it is important to understand the definitions of these terms. Note that prerequisites and corequisites can be challenged. See Prerequisite Challenge Policy, for more information.
Prerequisite indicates a condition of enrollment that a student is required to meet in order to demonstrate current readiness for enrollment in a course
or educational program. A prerequisite represents a set of skills or a body
of knowledge that a student must possess prior to enrollment and without
which the student is highly unlikely to succeed in the course or program.
Students will not be permitted to enroll in such courses and programs
without the appropriate prerequisite.
Corequisite indicates a condition of enrollment consisting of a course that a student is required to simultaneously take in order to enroll in another
course. A corequisite represents a set of skills or a body of knowledge that
a student must acquire through concurrent enrollment in another course
and without which the student is highly unlikely to succeed. Students must
concurrently enroll in the corequisite course.
Recommended Preparation indicates that while a course is not required prior to enrollment, it is highly advised in order to strengthen the likelihood
of success in subsequent courses.
