Academic Forgiveness Policies

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Academic Forgiveness Policies

Fredonia offers three options to help undergraduate students repair their academic records: First-Year Forgiveness, the Restart Option, and Academic Bankruptcy.

1. Students may use only one of the three options during their undergraduate career.
2. Forms are available through your Google Drive.
3. Students initiate the application process for First-Year Student Forgiveness and the Restart Option, after speaking with their academic advisor. For Academic Bankruptcy, students should first speak with a representative from the office of the Provost.
4. When a course previously-passed with a grade of D-, D, or D+ is excluded from the GPA calculation, under any of these policies, credit is lost for those courses and they will not count towards meeting any degree requirements, including the CCC.

First-Year Student Forgiveness:

Who is this for?

• For First-Year Students (not transfers) admitted Fall 2007 and later.

What does it do?

• Allows up to 18 credits of “D” or “F” grades to be excluded from the g.p.a. Students will lose credit when a “D” grade is forgiven, and those courses will not count for the CCC nor for any other degree requirements.

When do students apply?

• A student applies for this option after changing or declaring his or her major and improving academically, but before the completion of 50 cumulative credit hours.
• In most cases, approval will be for courses that were taken to satisfy program requirements that no longer apply, due to a change in major.
• In general, CCC courses should be repeated rather than forgiven.

First-Year Student Forgiveness Application Form

Restart Option:

Who is this for?

• For students with an interruption in their studies at SUNY Fredonia, and who were readmitted/reinstated Fall 2008 and later.

What does it do?

• Allows a new grade point average to be established from the time of readmission/reinstatement. The student’s academic record from the time of initial enrollment at SUNY Fredonia will be reflected on the transcript, but the student will receive credit only for those courses in which the student earned a grade of C- or above (including S grades).

When do students apply?

• A student applies for this option after returning to the University, and after the successful completion of at least 12 additional credits, using the online form available.
• Students approved for this option must successfully complete 45 credit hours of “regular” graded work (excluding S and P grades) at SUNY Fredonia prior to graduation.

Restart Option Application Form

Academic Bankruptcy:

Who is this for?

• For the student who normally maintains satisfactory academic standards, but whose grades suffer for one semester due to unusual or unfortunate circumstances.

What does it do?

• If the application to bankrupt a semester is approved, the student’s grades for that semester will be excluded when calculating the student’s GPA, but the student will receive credit only for those courses in which the student earned a grade of C- or above (including S grades).

When do students apply?

• To apply for this option, the student must be in good academic standing (excluding the semester for which bankruptcy is sought) and must have re-established the pattern of satisfactory academic progress that existed prior to the semester for which bankruptcy is sought.

Academic Bankruptcy Application Form