PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh says students will have to complete 12 academic credits before pledging to join a fraternity or sorority.

A Pittsburgh newspaper reported Friday that the new rule was effective immediately.

It essentially means that incoming freshmen will be ineligible to join Greek organizations until after completing roughly a semester’s worth of classes.

Pitt says the rule gives first-year students “an opportunity to get acclimated to college life, both academically and socially” before deciding whether to join the groups.

The university already requires a 2.5 grade-point average for students to remain in fraternities and the school’s interfraternity council fines Greek organizations whose first-semester students don’t make such grades.

It was not immediately clear whether advanced placement credits earned by students in high school will count toward the 12-credit requirement.

By The Associated Press