Northern Illinois University
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

This program allows you to select courses that interest you in a format and timeline that best suits your needs. You will receive individualized advising to ensure that the courses you are interested in meet the program and graduation requirements.  

Once you have been accepted into the program you will meet with the B.G.S. director or assistant director for an evaluation of your credits and you will work together to select your courses to create an academic plan leading to graduation. 

Course Format Options

Students pursuing this degree on our main campus in a traditional format usually take 12-15 hours a semester. We also offer this degree in additional formats such as online, blended online, and traditional face-to-face. In recent years the majority of courses fall into the "online" format or "blended" that require some face-to-face meetings. Some face-to-face class options are offered at our off-campus locations on a limited basis.

Spring 2020 Courses

Course Registration

"I did it for me. But I wanted to be a good role model for my daughter. The fact that I could build off of the classes I took before and didn’t have to start over really appealed to me. I also liked the diversity of classes the program offered."by Marty Lombardo, BGS graduate 2016