Want to Earn Both Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Five Years?

A shared credit program allows you to share credit hours in the last year of your bachelor's degree with graduate level courses that can be applied to a master's degree. Anderson offers shared credit programs for highly motivated students interested in fast-tracking your college journey and making yourself more competitive in the job market. Overall, these programs reduce your cost and time to graduate with a master's degree.

We offer three ways to earn master's credit during your bachelor's degree:

4+1 Program in Project Management
BBA-MACCT Integrated Program
GPA Rule for General Master's Credit

Benefits of a Shared Credit Program

Fill Your Electives: Fill up to 9 credit hours of electives with master's classes
Share Credit: Master's classes taken during a bachelor's degree can be counted as undergraduate elective credit and master's credit, as long as a grade of "B" or better is earned in the master's course
Pay Less for a Master's: Use your undergraduate scholarships and funding to pay for up to 9 credit hours of graduate classes, reducing the cost of your master's degree
Accelerate Your Master's: Earn your master's degree in one year after graduating, if attending full time
Advance Your Career: Earning a master's degree helps you advance in your career faster and makes you more attractive to employers

4+1 Program

Our 4+1 program is for students interested in pursuing the Master of Science in Project Management during their bachelor's degree. Every UNM bachelor's degree qualifies for admission to the 4+1 Program, if you have a 3.0 GPA by the time you apply — no need to be a business major. Project management offers high-paying roles in many sectors, so you will have many jobs to choose from after graduation.

Steps to Apply

Years 1 - 3: Pursue your undergraduate curriculum, including General Education requirements and degree requirements. Save 9 credit hours of electives until your final year of study.
Year 3, second semester: Apply for admission to the MS in Project Management program for the semester you want to start taking master's coursework. You can begin graduate courses in your final two semesters before graduation, but no earlier.
After admission: Fill out the Level Restriction form using the steps below to request access to the approved courses, which will be immediately added to your schedule upon approval.
Year 4: Take 9 credit hours of master's classes for undergraduate electives while finishing your bachelor's degree requirements.
Year 5: Finish the remaining 21 credit hours of the MS in Project Management program.

BBA-MACCT Integrated Program

Start your Master of Accounting through the BBA-MACCT Integrated Program before you graduate with your bachelor's degree. Students must be pursuing a bachelor's degree from UNM in business, with a concentration in accounting, and have a GPA of 3.0. You are automatically allowed to take 6 credit hours of master's classes for undergraduate electives, but you can be approved for up to 9 credit hours of master's classes.

Steps to Apply

Years 1 - 3: Pursue your undergraduate curriculum, including General Education requirements and degree requirements. Save 6 to 9 credit hours of electives until your final year of study.
Year 3, second semester: Apply for admission to the Master of Accounting program for the semester you want to start taking master's coursework. You can start taking graduate courses in your final two semesters before graduation, but no earlier.
After admission: Fill out the Level Restriction form using the steps below to request access to the approved courses, which will be immediately added to your schedule upon approval.
Year 4: Take 6 to 9 credit hours of master's classes for undergraduate electives while finishing your bachelor's degree requirements.
Year 5: Finish the remaining 24 to 27 credit hours of the Master of Accounting Program.

GPA Rule for General Master's Credit

Request to take master's courses as an undergraduate from the MBA, Online MBA or MS in Cybersecurity and Business Analytics program following the steps below.

If Your GPA is 3.0 - 3.49

You can request to take up to 6 credit hours of master's classes if you are within 10 credit hours of finishing your bachelor's degree. These courses cannot be counted as undergraduate electives and you would pay master's tuition for them. A grade of "B" or better must be earned in the course to qualify for master's credit.

If Your GPA is 3.5 or Higher

You can request to take up to 6 credit hours of master's classes if you are within 10 credit hours of finishing your bachelor's degree. These courses can be counted as undergraduate electives and you would pay undergraduate tuition for them. A grade of "B" or better must be earned in the course to earn master's credit.

Steps to Request Courses Using the GPA Rule

Fill out the Level Restriction form using the steps below to request access to one or two approved courses.
Courses will be approved two weeks before the semester begins, if there is still room in the course.
If approved, courses will be immediately added to your schedule.

How to Fill Out the Level Restriction Form

Visit the Registrar's Office forms page. You may need to sign in with your UNM NetID.
Click the button to open the form.
From the first dropdown menu, choose "Level Restriction/Graduate Credit."
Fill in the Student and Course Information sections.
Check the box labeled "This class is being taken for shared credit" at the bottom of the course information section.
If you are admitted to the 4+1 Program or BBA-MACCT Integrated Program, select "UG taking Grad course for UG credit" from the Course Credit Level dropdown menu.
If you are using the GPA Rule, select "UG taking course for Grad credit" from the Course Credit Level dropdown menu.
Enter andersongrad@unm.edu as the advisor and the course instructor email.
Courses will be approved no later than two weeks before the semester begins, if courses still have available seats.