Scholars Program

Recognition of Academic Achievement

Dean’s Academic Achievement Award

Students who graduate with at least 39 but fewer than 60 Columbia College hours and earn at least a 3.5 cumulative grade point average (GPA) may be eligible for the Dean’s Academic Achievement Award upon graduation. Students must meet the following criteria:

1. Hold an Associate in Arts or Associate in Science from a community college with an articulation agreement with Columbia College.
2. Complete a bachelor’s degree at the Columbia College Global location of articulation. Columbia College Global locations eligible include Crystal Lake, Elgin, Freeport, and Imperial.
3. Earn a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.
4. Complete 39 hours in residency with Columbia College.

Students seeking a second baccalaureate degree and to whom a Dean’s Academic Achievement Award was granted with a prior degree must complete an additional 39 hours in residency with at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA to be granted a second Dean’s Academic Achievement Award.

Students eligible for Latin Honors are ineligible for the Dean’s Academic Achievement Award.

Dean’s List

The Dean’s List is an honor awarded to students who achieve academic distinction. Students may be named to the Dean’s List if:

1. They complete at least 12 semester hours of Columbia College credit in a given semester with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

A grade of Incomplete eliminates a student from Dean’s List consideration. A grade given to replace an Incomplete cannot be applied to Dean’s List requirements. All EAPP courses, ENGL 107 ,  MATH 104  and MATH 106  do not apply when determining Dean’s List eligibility.

Courses taken by students as pass/fail or satisfactory/unsatisfactory are not included in the minimum requirement of at least 12 semester hours.

Graduation Honors

Columbia College confers baccalaureate degrees with the following Latin honors designations:

To receive a degree with these honors, students must have completed 60 hours of credit at Columbia College.

Students seeking a second baccalaureate degree who received an Honors designation on a prior degree must complete an additional 60 hours in residency and earn the requisite GPA in order to be granted a second Honors designation.

The Presidential Award

Each Commencement, special recognition is given to students earning a 4.0 GPA who have completed the entire course of study for the bachelor’s degree at Columbia College.

Main Campus Day Only

Baccalaureate Degrees with Distinction

The Bachelor’s Degree with Distinction is available for any degree program offered by Columbia College and requires a demonstration of excellence in a special two-semester project (excluding summer sessions) in addition to satisfying degree requirements.

Distinction work is done under the direct supervision of a faculty member qualified in the field of the project. At all major stages of the project (formal prospectus, complete draft or evidence of significant and substantive progress, and final project), work must be submitted by designated deadlines to the Chair of the Academic Honors and Awards Committee for approval or direction. All students completing a Distinction Project must take 3 credit hours of HNRS 484  with their faculty mentor for the project as the instructor of record. Credit hours must be taken during the student’s final semester before graduation-fall for December graduates and spring for May or Summer graduates.

To be eligible, a student must be currently enrolled, a member of the Honors Program, must have second-semester junior standing (75 semester hours, with at least 15 semester hours at Columbia College), and a 3.5 cumulative GPA. Eligibility is based on the assumption that a student may be eligible after five semesters. Entry into the program must be at a date that permits two semesters of work on the project. Students do not need to complete Honors Program requirements in order to complete the Distinction Project, but they must be admitted to the program.​

Honors and Awards Convocation

Columbia College recognizes the academic achievements of its students through the annual Honors and Awards Convocation. These annual honors or awards consist of gifts, certificates, and/or monetary awards given to current students that return the following academic year of their undergraduate program. Many of the awards are made possible by the generous philanthropy of alumni and friends of Columbia College. The monetary awards are applied to the student’s institutional expenses for the upcoming academic year and are non-renewable.

The President’s Honorarium for Academic Excellence (Overload Tuition Rate Waiver)

Columbia College Day students who have earned 30 institutional semester hours may take an overload to a total of 21 semester hours without additional cost if their cumulative GPA is at least 3.75.