The Cleveland Institute of Art grants the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree. A BFA degree is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in art. The BFA degree differs from a Bachelor of Arts degree in that a much higher proportion of the program consists of a studio practice component.

At CIA, the BFA degree requires completion of 120 semester credit hours. Approximately 1/3 of these credits are in Liberal Arts, with approximately 2/3 in studio courses. Refer to Section 3 for full academic policy information.

Common Requirements

To be able to graduate, all students must fulfill common requirements in:

• CO/RE
• Liberal Arts
• Professional Practices

Additional Degree Requirements

• A minimum of 120 completed credits
• A minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0
• Resolution of all Incomplete grades
• All letter graded courses must be passed with a D- or higher

In addition to the requirements listed above, students must have a minimum of 12 credits in electives or complete a minor or double major to satisfy the minimum 120 credit requirement.

Unique Credit

Unique credits are defined as credits used solely for one area, such as a minor or Liberal Arts.

Minors: Each minor must have at least 9 unique credits that do not count toward any other degree requirement.

Liberal Arts: A maximum of 9 credits can count toward the major and the Liberal Arts requirements. A maximum of 6 credits can count toward the minor and the Liberal Arts requirements. All other Liberal Arts credits must be unique.

Double Majors: Each major must have at least 18 unique credits that do not count toward any other degree requirement.

Student Responsibility

It is the responsibility of each student to ensure all requirements are met for the degree to be awarded. A student may not shift this responsibility to an academic advisor or staff member.
See Section 3 for additional information on degree requirements for graduation and commencement.

CO/RE

All students must complete CO/RE studio requirements by the end of the third academic year. Those deficient in CO/RE studio courses will not be permitted to begin the senior project course(s). See CORE section for requirements.

Liberal Arts

Liberal arts courses supplement the studio curriculum throughout every academic program at CIA. Additionally, CIA’s curriculum includes specific Liberal Arts requirements that are “distributed” throughout your years in your major program.

Some major programs have specific courses assigned to specific distribution requirements. See the major program course requirements, immediately following this section of the catalog. See page 48 for requirements.

Professional Practices

All students must successfully complete a Professional Practices course. Three tracks of the course are available, based upon your career goals. For complete course descriptions for each track, please see Section 7: Course Catalog.