Rules and Regulations 

Here are some really important facts that you should be familiar with as an undergraduate student.  

Students who withdraw or take a leave of absence from the university on or after the first day of the semester must comply with the official USF withdrawal or leave of absence policyÊto be eligible for a refund of tuitionÊcharges and residence hall fees. A pro-rated refund of charges will be applied for students withdrawing or taking a leave of absence within the first 21 days of the fall and spring semester.

If you decide not to attend USF, you must email Admissions@usfca.edu prior to the first day of class.

The Last Day to Drop is noted on your student schedule.  Students who absent themselves from class, or just stop going, or tell the instructor that their dropping the course without filing the required drop form or dropping online will receive an F for the course, so, just make sure you are using the proper procedures for dropping a class.

The Last Day to Drop date is also the last day you can change to or from the pass/fail or audit option.  Unfortunately, the pass/fail option cannot be applied during your first semester at USF.  This grade option is also not available for Core courses, language courses, or courses required for your major.

Full-time students take about sixteen credits, that is four classes at four credits each per semester.  Anything over eighteen credits is not allowed without special permission and typically a GPA of 3.5 or above.  Also, a per-credit charge is assessed for each credit exceeding eighteen.  Part-time students take fewer than twelve credits.  Be careful if you change from full-time to part-time status because it may affect your educational grants and loans. 

If you drop below a 2.0 GPA in any semester, or earn less than a 2.0 cumulative GPA in your major overall, you will be placed on academic probation.  If you are a full-time student and maintain a 3.5 or better GPA, you will be placed on the DeanÍs Honor Roll. 

USF expects its students to attend classroom and lab exercises.  Any absence may affect final grades, so be sure to read the course syllabi carefully to understand all of your instructorsÍ expectations.  If for some reason you are given an ñI,î or an incomplete grade, you must make sure to complete all of the work for the course in a timely manner; otherwise the incomplete grade converts to an ñFî by the close of the following semester.

The dates and times for final exams are scheduled well in advance and cannot be changed.  You can find the final exam schedule by clicking on the link on the homepage of this tutorial.

44 credits of your coursework must be taken in-residence at USF.  In order to take a class at another institution you must receive permission from the Dean first.  Courses required for the Core and the major must also be taken at USF.

The privilege of enrolling in a directed study or research is limited to those students with at least a 3.0 GPA, and only one such course per semester is allowed.  Normally, first semester USF students are ineligible.