In this article, the author discusses the issue of credentials in reply to one of the correspondents who is confused about the credentials she needs to teach at a community college. Generally speaking, to teach in programs that award associate of arts or associate of science degrees--i.e., to teach at a community college--faculty members are required by accreditors to have at least a master's degree "and" a minimum of 18 graduate credit hours in the subject they are teaching. Read that statement again carefully and note the wording: While one needs a master's, he or she is not required to have one in the specific subject he or she is teaching; he or she is required to have completed 18 graduate credit hours in that subject. And even if he or she does have a degree in the subject he or she hopes to teach, that degree must have included 18 credit hours "in that subject" in order for him or her to be allowed to teach it at a two-year college. If the candidate just doesn't have the 18 graduate credit hours in the subject, he or she will have to go back to graduate school and pick up the additional credit hours needed.