Bachelor of Liberal Studies
The Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS) degree is for students who are interested in a broad, liberal arts education to complement their life experiences and for those students who find the traditional university degree does not meet their specific needs. The BLS degree offers students considerable flexibility to apply credit earned at other accredited colleges and universities and from work-related experience. To be awarded the BLS degree, the student must earn at least 124 credit hours, which are comprised of the following:
BLS General Curriculum Distribution requirements.
Requirements for one BLS defined concentration
General electives
BLS Degree Provisions
At least 31 credit hours of the last 35 must be earned at the University and at least 15 of these credit hours must be earned in the selected concentration.
At least 24 credit hours must be earned in 300-level courses or higher. At least 16 of the concentration credit hours must be earned in courses at the 300-level or higher.
Students in the BLS degree program may not elect a minor or additional major(s).
General Curriculum Distribution requirements for the BLS degree are specific to this degree and do not apply to other undergraduate degree programs at the University.
Courses used to satisfy the General Curriculum Distribution requirements cannot be used to also satisfy requirements of the student’s chosen concentration but may be used to satisfy course prerequisites.
The General Curriculum Distribution requirements need not be completed before the student begins courses in the chosen concentration.
Students must satisfy a “writing intensive” requirement (Min. 9 credits). Current courses that can meet this requirement carry Writing Intensive course tag in class schedule.
For students pursuing the BLS degree, a special provision allows for credit from experiential learning. In addition to earning credit through testing programs such as CLEP and DANTES, students can earn a maximum of 10 credit hours for verifiable expertise gained from current or previous work-related experiences. Such experience must parallel the content in existing University of Tampa courses. Academic credit for work-related experience may be applied to any part of the BLS degree, except the General Curriculum Distribution requirements. Students seeking prior learning credit for work-related experience should contact the BLS advisor to learn about the process for applying for the credit.