The Dual Degree Programs allow exceptional undergraduate students at SU, the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in a shorter period of time. Prospective students must be in touch with our Admissions Coordinator well in advance of applying in order to plan accordingly and must meet normal standards of graduate admissions at the time of application.

How it Works

The Dual Degree programs allow qualified students to begin taking graduate-level courses during their junior year as an undergraduate at SU. These dual degree programs enable students to complete requirements for both the Bachelor and the Master’s degrees in less time than it would take to complete the degrees separately by applying credits for certain courses to both programs.

To be eligible, the student must have completed a total of at least 60 undergraduate credit hours and maintained at least a 3.2 GPA. A student may apply up to 30 transfer credits from other institutions of higher learning towards the 60 credit hours.

B.A. / M.A.

What would you prefer, to get a Bachelor’s degree in 4 years or get both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in 4 years?

SU is now offering 4-year dual B.A./M.A. degree programs. Instead of following the traditional pathway where you spend 4 years to get a Bachelor’s degree and 2 more years to get a Master’s degree (making a total of 6 years), you can now save time and money by choosing the dual B.A./M.A. pathway. If you intend to go for a Master’s degree in the future, we encourage you to consider if the dual B.A./M.A. is the right program for you.

The B.A. / M.A. program is broken down as follows:

• Take the first 60 credit hours as undergraduate credit hours. The student does 60 undergraduate credit hours at SU and maintains a GPA of at least 3.2. This is the equivalent of their first two years of undergraduate studies. Undergraduate tuition rates apply during the first 60 credit hours. The first 60 credit hours must include all required general education courses for the student’s undergraduate degree program.
• Apply and be accepted into the program. The student applies to one of our combined degree programs, pays the application fee, and is accepted into the program.
• Take the last 60 credit hours of undergraduate work as combined undergraduate/graduate credit hours. The student replaces the last 60 credit hours of their undergraduate degree with corresponding combined undergraduate/graduate courses. These credit hours will count both towards finishing their undergraduate degree and two years of graduate studies. Graduate tuition rates apply during these remaining 60 credit hours of combined undergraduate/graduate courses.
• Graduate with both B.A. / M.A degrees at the same time. The student will graduate with both the B.A./M.A. degree at the same time.

B.A. / M.Div.

What would you prefer, to get a Bachelor’s degree in 4 years and an M.Div. in 3 years or get both a Bachelor’s degree and M.Div. in 5 years?

Students who follow the traditional pathway spend 4 years to get a Bachelor’s degree and an additional 3 years to get the M.Div., a total of 7 years! With SU’s new M.A./M.Div programs, you can now shorten that program from 7 years to only 5 years. If you don’t already have a Bachelor’s degree and would like to get both a Bachelor’s and Master of Divinity (M.Div) in the future, we encourage you to contact us to see if the Dual Degree Program is right for you.

The B.A. / M.Div. program is broken down as follows:

• Take the first 60 credit hours as undergraduate credit hours. The student does 60 undergraduate credit hours at SU and maintains a GPA of at least 3.2. This is the equivalent of their first two years of undergraduate studies. Undergraduate tuition rates apply during the first 60 credit hours. The first 60 credit hours must include all required general education courses for the student’s undergraduate degree program.
• Apply and be accepted into the program. The student applies to one of our combined degree programs, pays the application fee, and is accepted into the program.
• Take the last 60 credit hours of undergraduate work as combined undergraduate/graduate credit hours. The student replaces the last 60 credit hours of their undergraduate degree with corresponding graduate-level classes. These graduate-level courses will satisfy the last two years of their undergraduate degree but also count towards two years of graduate studies. Graduate tuition rates apply during these remaining 60 credit hours.
• Graduate with a B.A. after finishing the first 120 credit hours. 
• Take a final 30 credit hours (the equivalent of 1 year) of graduate courses. The 10 courses that constitute these last 30 credit hours may include graduate equivalents of selected undergraduate courses that were taken by the student at an undergraduate-level, i.e. during their first 60 credit hours (or first two years of undergraduate work). When this is the case, the student will be expected to spend as much time interacting with these graduate-level courses as they would with any other graduate-level course whose undergraduate version they haven’t already taken in the past. The student would have enough educational material and assignments to keep the student learning a lot. Students will pay full graduate-level tuition and will not be allowed to request to pay only partial tuition since they may have taken undergraduate equivalents of these courses in the past. Even when the topics and content may be similar, graduate and undergraduate level courses are very different. What the professors expect from a student taking a graduate course is different from the same student taking a similar undergraduate course. These varying expectations factor into the grade that the student gets from the course.
• Graduate with an M.Div. after taking the last 30 credit hours (the equivalent of 1 year).

**All courses that are taken during the first 120 credit hours (Bachelor’s degree portion) would be unique and new to the student. Only in the last 30 credit hours (or last year ) of graduate coursework may there be a situation where the student takes a graduate-level equivalent of an undergraduate course that is familiar to them because they took the undergraduate version during their first two years.

Dual Degree Requirements

The following are additional requirements for the dual degree programs.

• Interested students must apply within the first two years (60 credit hours) of studies at SU.
• The application and application fee must be received at least 6 weeks before the student intends to take their first graduate-level course. Keep in mind that students may only start taking graduate-level coursework after they have completed their first 60 credit hours.
• Minimum required GPA for admission is 3.2.
• Students enrolled in Dual Degree Programs must maintain a 3.2 GPA until they graduate from the program.