Academic Requirements

Disability Services

FAQs for Disability Services
Academic Requirements

Students with disabilities are expected to complete all academic requirements necessary for graduation at CSU-Global. In addition to courses required for a major, all students must complete General Education core courses as established through the Colorado Revised Statute 23-1-125(3). These courses include Communication, Mathematics, Arts & Humanities, History, Social Sciences, and Natural & Physical Sciences, including a lab. In addition, CSU-Global participates in the Guaranteed Transfer (GT) Pathways General Education Curriculum. All schools participating in GT Pathways must hold all students to this general curriculum.

In addition, CSU-Global is accredited through the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). The HLC accreditation standards are outlined in the Criteria for Accreditation and Assumed Practices. HLC mandates that CSU-Global establish a minimum requirement for general education, and any variance to what is already established must be approved through HLC and must apply to all students.

If you have any questions about CSU-Global’s accreditation, please visit our accreditation pages. If you have any other questions about General Education courses, please visit the GT Pathways website.

Completing Academic Requirements

Waiving or substantially altering academic requirements for graduation is generally not considered a reasonable accommodation. This includes General Education requirements as well as requirements considered essential to your major and/or specialization.

If you are struggling to complete a particular requirement due to limitations created by your disability, there are options. You may want to:

Take the course elsewhere for transfer credit.

Courses from other institutions must meet CSU-Global's transfer requirements. To receive credit for a course taken elsewhere, the course must be an approved transfer, comparable to a CSU-Global course. You must earn a C- or higher for the course to transfer. For more information on transfer credits, review the Academic Catalog or you can contact Transcript Evaluation at transcript.evaluation@csuglobal.edu.

Take the course through alternative credit.

Alternative credit may include CSU-Global Competency Based Exams, College Level Examination Program (CLEP), DANTES Subject Standardized Tests (DSST), and Straighterline. For more information about Alternative Credit, review the Academic Catalog. You can also click here to learn more about Alternative Credit. You should also reach out to your advisor.

Take advantage of Smarthinking tutoring.

Smarthinking is CSU-Global’s free 24-7 online, on-demand tutoring service. It is available to all levels of students. Tutoring support can be accessed in four ways: drop-in for a session, make an appointment, submit essays for detailed review, or ask questions offline. For more information about Smarthinking, contact your advisor.

Interacting with CSU-Global Faculty

After registering with Disability Services, students may request Faculty Notification letters at the beginning of each academic term they would like to use their accommodations. The student is responsible for sending Faculty Notification letters to their instructor and starting the conversation about their accommodations. Accommodations are not retroactive, so it is important to send the Faculty Letter early in the term.

If an instructor seems unfamiliar with the accommodations needed or hesitant, students are encouraged to self-advocate by working directly with their instructors. However, Disability Services can help facilitate the conversation. The goal of Disability Services is to support students while they practice self-advocating. Students should feel comfortable sending an email to ada@csuglobal.edu and explaining the situation as well as working with faculty.

CSU-Global faculty are also encouraged to reach out to Disability Services should there be any question about accommodations or registering with Disability Services. Additionally, faculty should reach out to Disability Services if they have any questions about the accessibility of their course. This includes videos, podcasts, activities, etc.