Residence in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

To earn a B.A., B.F.A., B.M. or B.S. degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, students must satisfy the University of Iowa residence requirement and the CLAS residence requirement.

The UI Residence Requirement

Credit hours earned in all courses offered by The University of Iowa are considered UI residence hours, whether the courses are offered by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, or by another college in The University of Iowa, or through the Division of Continuing Education.

Credit hours earned from colleges and universities other than The University of Iowa are considered non-resident credit.

Credit by examination may be resident or non-resident credit. Credit by examination earned while a student is enrolled in a college of The University of Iowa is considered UI residence credit. Credit by examination earned while a student is enrolled in a college or university other than The University of Iowa, and brought to Iowa as part of a transfer transcript, is considered non-resident credit.

To earn a degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, students must complete one of the following UI residence options:

• Earn the final 30 semester hours of the degree in residence credit after admission to The University of Iowa, or
• Earn 45 of the final 60 semester hours of the degree in residence credit after admission to The University of Iowa, or
• Earn an overall total of 90 semester hours in residence credit applied to the degree.

The CLAS Residence Requirement

To earn a degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a student must also satisfy the CLAS residence requirement by earning a minimum of 30 semester hours of credit from courses offered by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Courses offered by the Departments of Biochemistry, Economics, Microbiology, and the College of Education are considered CLAS course work if a student is earning a major, minor, or certificate from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that includes those courses. When students take these courses for elective credit only, they are considered UI residence credit but not CLAS resident credit.

The BLS Residence Requirement

Students earning a B.L.S. degree are not subject to the CLAS or UI residence requirement but must earn at least 30 s.h. of credit from The University of Iowa after they are admitted to the B.L.S. program.