LSUA also offers eight associate's degree programs. The Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees are transfer degrees typical of those offered by many two-year institutions. Until LSUA has a sufficient variety of bachelor's degree programs to serve all its students, there is still a need for these programs. Career education associate's degrees are offered in Nursing, Radiologic Technology, Clinical Laboratory Science, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, and Computer Information Technology. A certificate program in Pharmacy Technology is also offered. All of these are very typical kinds of programs offered by many other colleges in Louisiana and elsewhere.

All LSUA degrees are compatible with LSUA’s mission [4] . Specifically, they: 1) Provide a solid academic foundation, 2) facilitate professional growth, and 3) promote a desire for life-long learning. They also contribute to economic growth by producing educated and trained graduates for the workforce.

Each degree consists of a core of required general education courses, requirements in the major or area of concentration, other required courses, and electives. Each bachelor's degree requires a minimum of 39 hours of general education courses with six hours in English composition, six hours in mathematics, three hours in fine arts, nine hours in humanities (of which three hours must be speech), nine hours in natural sciences and six hours in social sciences. Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, and Associate in Discipline degrees require 27-30 hours of general education distributed among the categories listed above. LSUA’s General Education requirements are listed on pages 65-67 in the LSUA Catalog [5] and discussed more thoroughly in Core Requirement 2.7.3 and Comprehensive Standard 3.4.10. LSUA’s general education requirements meet or exceed those required by the Board of Regents’ general education policy [6] [7] .

In addition to the general education courses, each bachelor’s degree must contain at least 30 hours of courses in the major and each associate's degree must contain at least 15 hours in the major. The remainder of hours in the degree consists of other courses the student is required to take as well as, in most cases, electives.

All degree programs at LSUA are reviewed by several faculty groups and the campus administration during the development and approval process. Curricular proposals and modifications [8] [9] originate in an academic department where they are reviewed by the department faculty to determine if they meet the general intent and purpose of that department and are appropriate in content for the degree to be awarded. If a proposal passes successfully through the departmental review process, it is forwarded to the Courses & Curricula Committee [10] where a similar review is conducted. The Courses & Curricula Committee is a committee of the Faculty Senate and is composed of representatives from each academic department. Proposals that are approved by the Courses & Curricula Committee must then be reviewed and approved by the Faculty Senate prior to being forwarded to the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs who reviews the proposed program with the Chancellor. The review process for courses and curricula is discussed in more detail in Comprehensive Standard 3.4.12.

New degree programs must be further developed into a more elaborate proposal [11] [12] [13] that is sent to the LSU Board of Supervisors and, if approved at that level, is sent on to the Louisiana Board of Regents. At both Board levels, additional scrutiny is placed on the program to assure the program is compatible with the institutional mission, is of appropriate length, and conforms to all degree requirements as published in the Louisiana Board of Regents academic policies [14] .