What Are A-G and CC Courses? A High School Counselor Breaks Down What Parents Actually Need to Know
Last month, on the second night of fall parent-teacher conferences, a woman named Mia pulled me aside after meeting her 10th grader Leo’s teachers. She had a crumpled course registration worksheet sticking out of her canvas tote, a half-empty coffee cup that was leaving a brown ring on the paper, and a furrowed brow I see at least three times a week. She and Leo moved to California from Arizona last summer, and Leo wants to study engineering at a UC after graduation. “I’ve Googled A-G requirements and CC courses for almost two hours last night,” she said, leaning in like she was embarrassed to admit she didn’t get it. “All I have are more questions. Is CC for kids who are behind? Do I need to make sure every class Leo takes is A-G? What happens if he misses one? Can you just tell me what I actually need to do?”
I had 10 minutes before my next appointment, so we sat on the folding bleachers along the gym wall and walked through it, starting with the basics that no one spells out clearly for most parents. A-G isn’t some secret ranking of “hard” vs “easy” classes, I told her. It’s just a standardized list of course requirements that every UC and CSU campus uses to check if a student is even eligible to apply. To get eligible, you need 15 year-long approved courses, broken into seven categories: A for history/social science, B for English, C for math, D for lab science, E for foreign language, F for visual and performing arts, and G for college prep electives.
The catch most parents miss: not every class your high school offers for graduation counts for A-G. For example, Leo’s first semester at our school, he took a general technology literacy class that counted towards our district’s graduation requirement, but it’s not on the approved A-G list. That’s the gap we had to fix before he fell too far behind.
Then we got to CC courses, which is where most of the confusion and wrong rumors start. The biggest misconception I hear is that “CC” stands for remedial classes, for kids who can’t handle regular high school work. That’s completely wrong. CC here means concurrent enrollment: classes your kid takes at the local community college while they’re still in high school. They get both high school credit and college credit for most of these classes, and most importantly, hundreds of them are approved to count for A-G requirements.
Mia asked the question I hear most: “I heard if you get a B in a CC class it ruins your GPA for college. Is that true?” That’s a myth most parent Facebook groups pass around wrong. UC and CSU calculate your eligibility GPA the exact same way for any approved A-G class, whether it’s taught at the high school or at the community college. A B is a B, it counts the same as it would in an AP or honors class at your high school. And if your kid takes a CC class that’s not approved for A-G, it doesn’t factor into that eligibility GPA at all. It just sits there as credit you can use later if they end up going to community college after graduation.
Last year, I worked with a first-gen senior whose family didn’t realize his student aide class didn’t count for the A-G visual/performing arts requirement. He was one course short, and our high school’s summer school program was already full and cost $800. He signed up for a 6-week online art history class through our local community college, it was free because of the district’s concurrent enrollment waiver, it was approved for A-G, and he graduated eligible. CC courses aren’t just for advanced kids trying to rack up early college credit to graduate college a semester early. They’re a safety net for kids who end up short a requirement, too.
From talking to dozens of parents like Mia, I’ve picked up a few small, concrete steps that make this whole process a lot less confusing. First, before you sit down to register for next year’s classes, pull up your high school’s A-G course list. It’s posted on every public high school website in California, usually under the counseling or college readiness tab. Circle the classes you know are approved before you pick anything else. Don’t just assume a class counts because it sounds like college prep. Second, if you’re looking at a CC course to fill a gap or get early credit, don’t just take the school’s word for it – plug the course number into the official UC A-G Course Search online. It takes two minutes to confirm it’s approved. Third, most districts waive all fees for concurrent enrollment courses for high school students, so don’t let cost stop you if you need to fill an A-G gap. Fourth, if you’re worried your kid is taking on too much, most CC classes let you drop within the first three weeks without it showing up on your transcript. If it’s too hard or too time-consuming, you can walk away with no harm done.
We fixed Leo’s schedule that night. He dropped the extra study hall he didn’t need, added an introductory engineering class through the local community college that’s approved for the A-G G elective requirement he was missing. He gets three units of college credit for it if he ends up going to any California public college, and it filled the gap he had from transferring schools. A month later, Mia emailed me to say Leo stays after class once a week to talk to his CC professor about internships for next summer, and he’s more excited about engineering than he was before.
I still get questions like Mia’s every week. Last night, I got a text from a dad asking if his son’s driver ed class counts for A-G (it doesn’t) and if a CC music appreciation class would work (it does, I sent him the link to confirm). A lot of schools hand out the course registration worksheet with all the jargon printed at the top, and no one stops to explain what any of it actually means for your kid. It’s easy to feel like you’re missing some big secret that other parents know. But most of the time, it’s just a matter of checking one list, asking one question, and remembering that CC courses aren’t just for the straight-A kids gunning for an early graduation. They’re a tool, just like any other, that can help you fix a gap, save money on tuition, or let your kid explore a subject they love before they get to campus. It’s not perfect, and I still have parents leave my office a little nervous that they made the wrong call. But so far, checking that A-G list early has fixed 90% of the problems that pop up later.
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