Frequently Asked Questions [draft]

Panther Central is South Florida State College’ internet-based portal that you will use to manage your courses, check email, receive messages from the College, and perform other tasks.

The web address for Panther Central is panthercentral.southflorida.edu. You can also find the link at the top of the College homepage or any web page on the College Web site.

Your Panther Central username is the full email address issued by South Florida State College: e.g., student@online.southflorida.edu. Your password is your eight-digit date of birth in the form of MMDDYYYY. For example, if your birthdate is Jan. 3, 1986, your password will be 01031986. You will be prompted to change your password the first time you login to Panther Central.

Access your student account by selecting the Student tab.

If you need assistance logging into Panther Central, call 863-784-7405 or email SFSCPantherCentralSupport@southflorida.edu.

Brightspace® is the online learning environment that you use to interact with your course instructors and your classmates beyond the scheduled class time. Two weeks prior to the beginning of each term, you will be able to use Brightspace®to view the list of courses in which you are registered. You will have access to the courses at 12:01 a.m. on the first day of the new term.

Access Brightspace through the Panther Central homepage or by selecting email link in the drop down menu of your Student tab.

If you need assistance, email BrightspaceSupport@southflorida.edu or call 863-784-7016.

To view your grades for the term in which you are currently enrolled, go to Brightspace® and select grades from your course navigation bar.

Your final grades for all of your courses are posted in Panther Central. Select the Student tab and select Final Grades from the middle column.

You can find your GPA by using the Student tab in Panther Central, where it is posted along with your academic transcript. Your SFSC GPA will be listed separately from the GPA you earned at other colleges you have previously attended as well as a cumulative GPA of all courses attempted.

Use the Online Scholarship Manager to find scholarships available through SFSC. If you have questions about these scholarships, contact the Financial Aid Office.

You can also find national and international scholarship opportunities by searching Fastweb.com and at the websites of colleges or universities you plan to attend in the future. Do not pay fees for online services to find scholarships. Reputable scholarship website are always free.

A hold may be posted to your student account if you owe money to the College, including fines for illegal parking or overdue library books. Students who are required to complete the First-Year Experience Seminar course but have not done may also find a hold on their account. Holds can block students from registering for classes online or from having their transcripts released to them.

The Florida State Department of Education mandates that you must demonstrate college-level communication and computation skills by completing coursework in English and mathematics. To satisfy these requirements, you must:

• Complete your communication competency course with a grade of C or higher•
• Complete at least 6 credit hours of college-level mathematics courses with grades of C or higher

You may need to meet additional competency requirements in other courses.

During the Drop with Refund period of each term (typically the first week of classes), you are allowed to drop out of a course. You will receive a tuition refund or credit, and there will be no record of you having registered for the course on your transcript. You can find the Drop with Refund period on the academic calendar.

You can drop a course in Panther Central. Select the Student tab, go to the Registration Tools channel, choose Add or Drop Classes, and press submit.

Once the Drop With Refund period ends, you may withdraw from the course, but tuition will not be refunded, and a grade of W will be recorded on your transcript. Such a grade does not affect your GPA, but it may affect your ability to transfer to other state colleges or universities. Withdrawing from courses may also affect your eligibility to receive financial aid.

If you earn a D or F in a course the first time you take it, you may be able to use grade forgiveness to improve that grade and your GPA. You may retake the course a second time and earn a C or higher, you can replace the lower grade with the higher grade. Both grades will be posted on your transcript, but the higher passing grade will be used for calculating your GPA. A full explanation of grade forgiveness is in the College Catalog.

An A.A. degree is also known as the university parallel program for students who intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree at SFSC or another four-year college or university. Students complete their freshman and sophomore years of college at SFSC and then transfer to a baccalaureate program as a junior.

A.A. degree students complete a minimum of 60 credit hours of coursework. Approximately two-thirds of those courses will fulfill general education requirements, while the remaining one-third will be specific to the student’s selected major.

An A.S. degree is a program of study in which students earn college credits while they prepare for employment in technical fields. Like the A.A. degree, the A.S. degree can be transferred to baccalaureate programs at Florida’s state universities and many independent colleges.

A.S. degree students must complete a minimum of 60 credit hours of coursework with approximately 18 of those hours being in general education courses. With an A.S. degree, students gain the flexibility of entering the job market after two years of study or continuing their education.

College credit certificate allow students to complete coursework in a particular vocation, such accounting, agriculture, business, or paramedic studies. Such programs typically take about a year to complete, and the credits earned may be applied to an A.S. degree.

SFSC offers a number of Career Certificate programs that combine classroom instruction with hands-on training to prepare students for employment in a particular vocational field. These classes typically meet between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Sponsored in partnership with Heartland Apprenticeship Committees, SFSC’s Apprenticeship program is available to students in air conditioning, electrical, and electrical lineworker programs. Students enrolled in an apprenticeship program complete 640 hours of classroom training and 8,000 hours of on-the-job training.

Students who wish to enter an apprenticeship program must: Apply through the Heartland Apprenticeship Committee before August of each year Be working for an employer who is participating in the apprenticeship program.