College of Agriculture & Natural ResourcesDepartment of Community Sustainability

NOTE: Courses from the former CARRS Department, labeled as ACR courses, are now listed as CSUS courses. Some titles have changed slightly to reflect the new department name and focus, but the courses are essentially the same as previously. 

If you have specific ACR courses on your program, simply enroll for the same course number, but with the CSUS alpha code. PhD students who took some of their course as ACR courses must be sure to enter ACR (not CSUS) in Grad Plan.  Instructions and forms for officially changing degree Program Plans are now available in the Graduate Handbook and in the “Forms” section of the CSUS Graduate website (Change in Program Plan).

400-level Courses: By MSU policy, more than half of the credits of the total required for a master’s degree must be taken at the 800 and 900 levels, except as specifically exempted by the dean of CANR. Courses at the 400 level may be applied to the master’s degree program; however, when both a 400- and 800-level course are available and cover the same content, the 800-level course should be selected if at all possible, and if the student has the content background for the 800-level course.

Doctoral students are expected to select 800- and 900-level courses, but may take 400-level courses when no comparable courses exist at the 800 or 900 levels. However, no more than nine (9) credits of 400-level courses should be taken as part of the curriculum requirements of the PhD program; 300-level courses are not allowed in a PhD program.