Grade Forgiveness : IU 51��

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Grade Forgiveness

IU 51�� recognizes that students who attended IU previously and performed poorly can be burdened by that prior history. That history can prolong achieving minimum GPA to graduate with intended major and often no longer reflects the student’s current level of academic achievement and commitment to degree completion. The university offers grade forgiveness policy and practices to relieve the current negative impacts of poor grade performance during a prior attendance at IU anywhere.

Fresh Start

The Fresh Start Policy (effective Fall 2020), purposely replacing and superseding the prior campus grade-forgiveness policy called “Academic Bankruptcy (Grade Forgiveness)”, provides undergraduate students returning to Indiana University 51�� a comparable GPA platform as transfer students, whereby prior work may count towards degree requirements, but is not included in calculation of the cumulative program GPA. Under the policy all grades, credits, and courses remain visible on the transcript but an adjustment is applied to the academic record to remove the GPA points/values from the cumulative Program GPA for all prior IU coursework.

Credit for any prior IU coursework completed with grades of C or better, including credit taken as a nondegree student, will continue to count towards degree and/or program requirements. Thus, students will begin their post-Fresh Start academic record with a Program GPA of 0.0.

Students may apply to invoke the Fresh Start policy if they meet both of the following criteria:

They are pursuing their first baccalaureate degree
They have not been enrolled at any IU campus for 24 or more consecutive months (2 years).

Students who left any Indiana University campus in less-than-good academic standing, e.g. academic probation or dismissal, are eligible for application of the Fresh Start policy if they are determined eligible for readmission to Indiana University 51��.

All IU 51�� undergraduate students who meet the criteria, regardless of the academic unit of enrollment, are eligible to apply for Fresh Start.

NOTE: This policy does not supersede any program-specific policies or requirements

Students must make application for Fresh Start by the last day of classes in their first term of enrollment after the 24+-month hiatus. This date is published and available online in the Academic Calendar.

The policy includes the following eight conditions that establish its limitations:

Notations for academic probation, academic suspension, academic dismissal, or bankruptcy from prior terms of enrollment will remain on the student transcript, but will not be used for determining a student’s academic standing following the application of the Fresh Start policy. Only grades earned after the application of the Fresh Start re-enrollment will be used in determining academic standing (probation, suspension, dismissal, Dean’s or Chancellor’s List, graduation eligibility).
Grades awarded as result of being found responsible in an Academic Misconduct inquiry will not be removed from the program GPA calculation by application of Fresh Start.
Once Fresh Start is invoked and applied to student record, Extended-X or any other grade replacement policies are restricted: they may only apply when both classes of the grade replacement pair were completed after the application of Fresh Start. In no cases may a student who has been granted Fresh Start seek to replace a grade completed before the application of Fresh Start.
Students may apply for and invoke Fresh Start only once. Once applied, it may not be revoked by the student.
The policy will apply to all terms of IU enrollment, regardless of the campus on which the courses were completed, for purposes of determining IU 51�� degree progress and completion.
To earn an IU 51�� degree, students must earn a minimum of thirty (30) degree-applicable credit hours on the IU 51�� campus after the application of Fresh Start.
Students receiving a similar academic forgiveness benefit on another Indiana University campus are not eligible for IU 51�� Fresh Start.
Students receiving IU 51�� Fresh Start who subsequently become degree-seeking students on another IU campus are subject to the policies in effect for the IU campus from which they receive their degree.

An application developed by the Office of the Registrar will be distributed to all schools for their use in implementing Fresh Start in the academic year beginning with the Fall semester after approval of this policy.
Students submit application to the dean of the school through which they have been admitted to return to IU 51��. The dean or duly authorized dean delegate has responsibility to determine if student qualifies for Fresh Start program under this policy. Upon approving or denying the application, the dean or dean delegate forwards the application to the Office of the Registrar for execution. Denials of Fresh Start by the dean or dean delegate may be appealed to the Probation, Suspension, and Dismissal Committee within 30 days of the notice date. The decision of the Probation, Suspension, and Dismissal Committee shall be final in appealed cases.
Upon receiving a decision from the dean or dean delegate, the Office of the Registrar shall:
1. Notify the students via e-mail to their IU email account of the approval or denial of the application.
2. In approved cases, apply a service indicator to the student record for tracking and reporting purposes.
3. In approved cases, update the record to extract the GPA values, and credits in classes with less than C grades, from the Program GPA and earned hours, for all terms of enrollment preceding the term of Fresh Start approval. d. In denied cases, provide information in the notice of decision on how to appeal.

Approved by Faculty Senate eff. Fall 20 as Circular 20-5J February 20, 2020.

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