General Rule for Course Equivalencies

Equivalent courses at different institutions are identified by the same prefixes and same last three digits of the course number and are guaranteed to be transferable between participating institutions that offer the course, with a few exceptions, as listed below in Exceptions to the General Rule for Equivalency.

For example, a freshman composition skills course is offered by 84 different public and nonpublic postsecondary institutions. Each institution uses "ENC_101" to identify its freshman composition skills course. The level code is the first digit and represents the year in which students normally take the course at a specific institution. In the SCNS taxonomy, "ENC" means "English Composition," the century digit "1" represents "Freshman Composition," the decade digit "0" represents "Freshman Composition Skills," and the unit digit "1" represents "Freshman Composition Skills I."

In the sciences and certain other areas, a "C" or "L" after the course number is known as a lab indicator. The "C" represents a combined lecture and laboratory course that meets in the same place at the same time. The "L" represents a laboratory course or the laboratory part of a course that has the same prefix and course number but meets at a different time or place.

Transfer of any successfully completed course from one participating institution to another is guaranteed in cases where the course to be transferred is equivalent to one offered by the receiving institution. Equivalencies are established by the same prefix and last three digits and comparable faculty credentials at both institutions. For example, ENC 1101 is offered at a community college. The same course is offered at a state university as ENC 2101. A student who has successfully completed ENC 1101 at a Florida College System institution is guaranteed to receive transfer credit for ENC 2101 at the state university if the student transfers. The student cannot be required to take ENC 2101 again since ENC 1101 is equivalent to ENC 2101.

Transfer credit must be awarded for successfully completed equivalent courses and used by the receiving institution to determine satisfaction of requirements by transfer students on the same basis as credit awarded to the native students. It is the prerogative of the receiving institution, however, to offer transfer credit for courses successfully completed that have not been designated as equivalent.

NOTE: Credit generated at institutions on the quarter-term system may not transfer the equivalent number of credits to institutions on semester-term systems. For example, 4.0 quarter hours often transfers as 2.67 semester hours.