Florida Gulf Coast University
Tier2-2: Community Service on Transcripts

One of the defining characteristics of Florida Gulf Coast University is its institutional commitment to service, put into practice through the civic engagement activities of faculty, staff and students. Service-learning connects students to the community and the classroom to the real world. Through service-learning students are both learners and teachers, sharing themselves and their knowledge and, in turn, learning from the clients and the environment where they serve. Because service-learning is such a powerful teaching tool and because service-learning sets the stage for continued community involvement, University founders established service-learning as an undergraduate requirement. We call our service-learning program EaglesConnect. http://www.fgcu.edu/connect/

Students admitted to FGCU as first-year students or lower level transfers must complete 80 hours of service-learning as part of their graduation requirement. Students admitted as upper-level transfers must complete 40 hours of service-learning as part of their graduation requirement.

Students who have already completed a bachelor’s degree at another institution and are admitted to FGCU to complete a second undergraduate degree must complete 40 hours of service-learning as part of their second degree’s graduation requirements. Students who have completed a bachelor’s degree at FGCU and are re-admitted to FGCU to complete a second undergraduate degree have already fulfilled the degree requirements for service-learning; however, if they register for a class that has a service-learning requirement, they are obligated to complete it as a component of the course’s requirements.

Agreement and Verification forms are used to document service-learning hours. The FGCU student transcripts show the total of service hours students have completed until they’ve reached their 40 or 80 hour requirement. Then it is listed on the transcript as COMPLETED.