Palm Springs Campus - Academic Services

General Education Credit Classes

Credit courses are designated as either associate degree credit courses or non-degree credit courses. Associate degree credit courses may be used as required or elective courses in a degree or certificate program. Students must complete the course requirements as specified in their program of study for their declared major as well as general education courses in order to earn an Associate's Degree. See Catalogs and Schedules website for a complete listing of General Education courses.

Basic Skills Courses

Basic skills or pre-collegiate courses are designed to prepare students for college-level work. Students may be required to enroll in certain basic skills courses if the assessment process indicates they will benefit by this special preparation for college-level courses.

English Second Language Non-Credit (ESLN) courses.

The ESLN Program offers six levels of English, ranging from the Foundations class to the advanced Level 5. Placement into the courses is determined by a placement test. After completing the ESLN Program, you will have the language skills necessary to move on to many exciting careers or further studies. View more information on our ESLN Program, including registration details.

Visit the Catalogs and Schedules site for important dates, academic calendars, and schedules for all terms.

Current Hours

Tutoring & Academic Skills Center (TASC) services are available Monday-Thursday, 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m. (closed 12:30-1:30 pm for lunch) in our Learning Resource Center (PS06).

College of the Desert provides students with access to online tutoring services from Smarthinking. With Smarthinking, students can chat with a live tutor up to 24 hours a day from ANY internet connection.

Tutors are available for a wide range of subjects including writing (for any course), math (basic math through calculus II), accounting, statistics, finance, economics, biology, nursing & allied health, physics, chemistry, office applications, and Spanish. Students can also submit completed drafts of writing assignments from any course to Smarthinking's Writing Center for a tutor to review. The tutor will provide a detailed, personalized feedback about the submitted paper, typically within 24 hours.

To connect with a tutor online, follow these steps:

  1. Go to https://services.smarthinking.com
  2. Enter your username and password.
    • Your username is your “mycod.us” email address.
    • Your password is the default password you received when you applied.

Additionally, find all your course textbooks at Indio, Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs-Wenzlaff, or Mecca/Thermal, you can use them on site only. Access all of our electronic resources, such as e-books and database literature. For reference help, login to our chat reference service from the library home page and talk to a librarian 24/7. For additional details visit the COD Library page.