American FFA Degree

Overview

To be eligible to receive the American FFA Degree from the National FFA Organization, the member must meet the following minimum qualifications:

- Have received the State FFA Degree, have been an active member for the past three years (36 months) and have a record of satisfactory participation in activities on the chapter and state levels.
- Have satisfactorily completed the equivalent of at least three years (540 hours) of systematic secondary school instruction in an agricultural education program, or have completed at least the equivalent of 360 hours of systematic secondary school instruction in agricultural education and one full year of enrollment in a postsecondary agricultural program, or have completed the program of agricultural education offered in the secondary school last attended.
- Have graduated from high school at least 12 months prior to the national convention at which the degree is to be granted.
- Have in operation and have maintained records to substantiate an outstanding supervised agricultural experience program, through which the member has exhibited comprehensive planning and managerial and financial expertise.
- A student after entering agricultural education must have:
  - Earned at least $10,000 and productively invested at least $7,500; or
  - Earned and productively invested $2,000 and worked 2,250 hours in excess of scheduled class time. Any combination of hours, times a factor of 3.56, plus actual dollars earned and productively invested must be equal to or greater than the number 10,000. Hours used for the purpose of producing earnings reported as productively invested income shall not be duplicated as hours of credit to meet the minimum requirements for the degree.
- Have a record of outstanding leadership abilities and community involvement and have achieved a high school scholastic record of “C” or better as certified by the principal or superintendent.
- Have participated in at least 50 hours of community service, within at least three different community service activities. These hours are in addition to and cannot be duplicated as paid or unpaid supervised agricultural experience hours.
- Applicants must complete and submit the current version of the American FFA Degree application authorized by the National FFA Organization.

More About the American FFA Degree

The American FFA Degree is the highest level of membership you can achieve as an FFA member. This final step in the FFA degree system encourages you to grow and achieve personally toward establishing yourself in an agricultural career.

Before you can submit an application for the American FFA Degree, you must have received the preceding FFA degrees:

Greenhand
Chapter FFA Degree
State FFA Degree

The American FFA Degree is a sign of great accomplishment among FFA members. Only a small percentage of FFA members ever earn the degree (the greatest percentage of members ever to receive the degree in one year was less than one half of one percent).

To advance to this degree requires commitment and significant hard work on your part. The only Supervised Agricultural Experiences that count toward the American FFA Degree requirements are those that fit into a National Proficiency area. The Nebraska Only Proficiency Area Experiences do not count toward the American Degree requirements. Those experiences need to be deleted from the application before they are submitted.

If you are a freshman or sophomore in high school, now is the time to set the goal and create a roadmap on how you plan to achieve the American FFA Degree. If you are already a junior or senior, you can determine just what you need to do to obtain the degree before your FFA years are completed. To receive the American FFA Degree, you must have maintained your FFA membership and have graduated at least 12 months prior to the national FFA convention at which the degree is to be granted. You may retain your membership in the FFA until November 30, following the fourth national FFA convention after you graduate from high school.