The Gemological Institute of America will begin granting college-level degrees through the GIA School of Business in September.

GIA is now accepting applications for the Bachelor of Business Administration degree-completion program, which is being taught online through the Institute’s distance-education curriculum. Students who have completed coursework through the GIA School of Business can apply their credits toward the degree.

To be eligible for admission to the BBA program, which consists of 40 courses, students must have already acquired an associate’s degree or its equivalent from an accredited college, university, or institute. General education requirements like English and algebra will need to be completed prior to entering the BBA program.

Four lower-division business courses can be taken at GIA or transferred from an accredited institution. However, all 20 upper-division business courses, which include entrepreneurship, merchandising, and global business management, must be taken through the Institute’s BBA program.

GIA is working with the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology to accredit the program. The organization accredits more than 800 post-secondary schools and colleges in the United States.

For more information about the GIA School of Business and its new BBA degree-completion program, visit www.gia.edu, or call (760) 603-4000, ext. 4001.