All students who are pursuing a bachelor's degree at a public university in Florida must satisfy CLAS requirements in reading, writing and math in order to receive a degree. Students can fulfill this requirement with test scores or by completing required coursework. Students who score above 500 on the math, critical reading, and/or writing portions of the SAT are considered to have fulfilled the CLAS requirement in the corresponding subject(s). Similarly, students who score above 21 on the English or math portions of the ACT or above 22 on the reading portion are considered to have fulfilled the CLAS requirement in the corresponding subject(s). Students can also fulfill the reading and writing portions of the CLAS by earning an average 2.5 grade point average in two writing classes. One of these classes must be in English composition and the other can be in any subject the university designates as a writing-intensive course. Students can fulfill the math portion of the CLAS by earning an average of a 2.5 GPA in two college-level math courses. In general, students must fulfill CLAS requirements before earning 60 credits. Students who have earned over 60 credits without completing both the math and English requirements may be blocked from registering for classes.
The Gordon Rule is a policy mandating that all students who wish to earn an associate's or bachelor's degree at a public university in Florida must complete specific coursework requirements in English and mathematics. In math, students must complete six credits in college-level courses. Three credits of statistics or applied logic can be counted toward this requirement. To satisfy the English requirement, students must complete 12 credits of writing-intensive coursework. Six credits must be in English composition, and the remaining six credits may come from designated writing-intensive classes in any department.
Students must complete at least 120 college-level credits to receive a bachelor's degree. Of those, 36 credits must be earned in general education courses in the areas of communication, mathematics, science, humanities and social science. Additionally, students who did not complete two years of a foreign language in high school must pass two semesters of a foreign language at the university before a degree can be awarded.
Lastly, all students who enter a Florida public university with less than 60 earned semester credits are subject to a summer session requirement. To fulfill this requirement, students must earn at least nine credits outside of the traditional school year. Most students will satisfy this requirement by taking summer session classes, but college credits earned in high school--such as Advanced Placement courses--can be used toward this total.