New College of Florida

New College of Florida is a public liberal arts honors college in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded as a private institution, spent several years merged into the University of South Florida, and in 2001 became an autonomous college, the eleventh independent school of the State University System of Florida. Upon achieving independence, the school adopted its current name: New College of Florida. The school is distinguished by its unusual "contract system," in which students are given written evaluations instead of grades and agree to semester-long contracts in which a certain number of classes must be passed. For example, in a "three out of five" contract, a student who failed two classes would face no penalty, although one who failed three classes would risk losing the entire semester's credits. The system was devised to encourage academic experimentation and foster curiosity about disparate topics outside one's usual course of study. New College offers nearly 40 areas of concentration for undergraduates and a master’s degree program in Data Science. We have earned many accolades and distinctions, among them a place in Loren Pope’s book, “Colleges That Change Lives,” and consistently high national rankings by the leading arbiters of higher education.