Suggested GRCC Program:
Associate in Arts or Associate in Applied Arts and Sciences
This program prepares students to serve as adult corrections officers in prisons and jails, counselors in halfway houses, and probation or parole officers. It also serves to enhance the skills of people currently employed in correctional settings. Corrections officers are charged with the safekeeping of people who have been arrested, are awaiting trial, or who have been tried and convicted of a crime and are sentenced to serve time in a correctional institution. The Correctional Officer Training Act requires that specific college courses and academy training are necessary to certify individuals as correctional officers. Students are advised to discuss specific requirements with the GRCC Corrections Training Coordinator before enrolling.
Probation and parole officers work in community settings and with the courts in counseling to monitor the activities of sentenced and paroled offenders. Most jurisdictions require a bachelor’s degree as a condition of employment for parole and probation officer jobs. Students interested in such work should discuss transferability of Community College work to baccalaureate degree-granting institutions with the GRCC Corrections Training Coordinator before enrolling in the program.
Students in Corrections may qualify for either the Associate in Applied Arts and Sciences (AAAS) degree or the Associate in Arts (AA) degree. Those who wish to earn the AA should take care that they meet the communication, humanities, and natural science requirements for that degree.
Courses may be taken in any order as long as all requirements (including prerequisites) are met.
Total Credits / Contact Hours
For AAAS: 64 / 68
For AA: 69 / 73
** The AA degree also requires 8 credits of natural science (one course of which must include a laboratory) and 8 credits in humanities.
Note: Completion of COM 135 as Humanities Elective and the addition of CJ 275 (Addiction Treatment with Diverse Poplulaitons) will complete the minimum education requriements for the CCJP credentials in addition. The additional completion of either PY 231 or PY 232 will meet the minimum education requirements for the CAC credential in addiction.
# These courses meet the minimum academic program requirements mandated by the Michigan Correctional Officers Training Council (MCOTC) under Public Act 415.
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