Extended Graduate Program

Without a previous degree in speech pathology/communication disorders, you could apply to our Extended graduate program in conditionally classified status. The minimum requirement to apply is:

• to have an undergraduate degree posted by the time the graduate program begins, and
• that the overall GPA in the degree is 2.5. 

If you are admitted to our graduate program, you will be completing both undergraduate and graduate coursework in communication disorders.  It will take you a minimum of three years to complete the graduate program in this model. You can review a roadmap for the Fall 2025 cohort HERE. The undergraduate prerequisite courses are typically offered during the day, but not on Fridays or weekends.  Graduate courses are generally offered in the evening to allow students’ daytime placement in their clinical experiences, in which therapy is provided to clients under licensed SLP supervision. 

Note that we do not accept transfer students with partial coursework in communication disorders from other graduate programs. 
We unfortunately do not have staffing to do transfer/transcript evaluations, and do not provide this type of service for non-admitted students.

We understand that you may want to start taking the undergraduate prerequisite courses in communication disorders at Cal State East Bay as a non-degree seeking student right away, however, we are unable to offer this to you as an option. In the meantime, you are welcome to work on completing non-communication disorders lower division coursework designed to meet ASHA between now and the time you apply, though they are not required to apply. These include ASHA area prerequisites in biological sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, and statistics. Please visit the ASHA web page for more details. If you would like to confirm whether coursework will meet these requirements, please reach out to program coordinator, Dr. Michelle Gravier. If you were interested in researching post-bacc. programs in communication disorders to eventually apply to our regular two-year program instead of our extended graduate program, minimum content (as opposed to specific course) requirements to apply to our program include: 

• Anatomy and Physiology of Speech and Hearing
• Phonetics/Phonological Disorders
• Child Language Development/Disorders
• Speech and Hearing Science
• Neuroanatomy/Neurophysiology and Adult Neurocognitive Disorders
• Audiology/Audiometry
• Clinical Methods/Diagnostics 
  • Recommended but not required: Guided Clinical Observation (25 hours)

 We strongly encourage you to also read these additional links:

• How to Apply
• FAQ 
• Department Visits 

You are strongly encouraged to explore other sections of the department website.
Information on the cost of attending Cal State East Bay is not available through the department. All information regarding financial aid can found on the university's Financial Aid website. Please note that this page defaults to undergraduate costs; please select the words “Graduate Student” for graduate-level tuition. We in particular want to note that for the extended graduate program, financial aid is available only at undergraduate levels for the first year in the program, when primarily undergraduate courses are being taken.
Information on Cal State East Bay application deadlines is available on the university's Important Dates page. 

If you find you have more questions after reviewing this webpage and provided links, please contact us at slhs@csueastbay.edu