Grade Forgiveness

1. UCCS Grade Forgiveness only applies to undergraduate degree-seeking students repeating completed* courses at the undergraduate level. For graduate level courses, please see the Graduate School policy.
    
2. UCCS Grade Forgiveness only applies to courses taken at UCCS. All courses must also be retaken at UCCS.
    
3. UCCS Grade Forgiveness applies to enrolled courses beginning with the fall 2021 semester. Students can declare Grade Forgiveness for fall 2021 courses beginning in the spring 2022 semester. Students cannot use this policy for courses taken prior to fall 2021.
    
4. Once a degree is conferred, courses completed prior to the degree conferral are no longer eligible for Grade Forgiveness.
    
5. UCCS Grade Forgiveness only applies to letter grades of a C- or below. Course grades of C or higher are not eligible. Pass/Fail graded courses are not eligible.

* Completed courses are those that received a final grade (not to include I or W).

Financial Aid and Scholarship Implications:

There are several aspects of invoking Grade Forgiveness that can impact financial aid and scholarship funds that a student may receive. Students are strongly encouraged to seek advice from the Office of Financial Aid, Student Employment and Scholarships before using this Grade Forgiveness policy. 

The following items should be considered:

1. Federal regulation allows students to receive federal financial aid to retake a passed course one time only.
    
2. If a student does retake a passed course, both grades will be included in the cumulative G.P.A. used for financial aid eligibility purposes. Students must know that there will be at least two separate G.P.A.s that concern them—one for financial aid and one for their transcript. If the grade earned for the repeat course is higher than the original grade, the transcript G.P.A. will be higher than the financial aid G.P.A. If the financial aid G.P.A. is less than 2.0, the student will be in jeopardy of no longer qualifying for financial aid. This could happen even if the transcript G.P.A. is greater than 2.0.
    
3. Undergraduates must complete their program within 150% of the published length of their degree program (as measured in credit hours). For financial aid purposes, repeated credits are included in this maximum timeframe calculation. Consequently, students exercising this Grade Forgiveness policy will be increasing the likelihood that they exceed this maximum timeframe and thus, should exercise this policy judiciously.
    
4. Students with scholarships should, in conjunction with help from the Office of Financial Aid, Student Employment and Scholarships , ensure the stipulations of their scholarship funds will allow them to use their scholarship funds to take repeat courses for Grade Forgiveness purposes.

If you are a student using certain VA Educational Benefits, please note that the VA will only pay for courses repeated in order to meet a student's program requirements. Although the UCCS Grade Forgiveness policy allows students to repeat courses with a grade of C- or below, the VA will only pay for that repeated course if a C- or better is required for the program.  For example, if a grade of D or better is required for the academic program, the VA would not pay because the student already met the program requirement.  Therefore, the student would be responsible for the tuition and fees. 

Please reach out to the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs to discuss your specific situation before requesting Grade Forgiveness.

1. You must submit your declaration form to the Office of the Registrar by the course census date for the repeated course. Visit Dates and Deadlines to review census date information. Note: You must be fully enrolled in the repeated course you wish to use Grade Forgiveness for. You cannot be waitlisted for the repeated course.
    
2. If you elect to retake a course, you will have one opportunity to retake that course for Grade Forgiveness purposes. Only the most recent attempt of a course will be eligible for Grade Forgiveness. Please see examples under “Considerations" drop-down box below.
    
3. Both course grades (original and repeated) will appear on the CU transcript but only the most recent grade will apply towards the transcript GPA. Please see examples under the “Considerations” drop-down box below.
    
4. Both the original course and repeated course must be taken for a letter grade (no pass/fail, no credit/audit).
    
5. If you invoke the grade replacement policy, and you drop or withdraw from the course before the end of the semester, this attempt does not count against the number of credits (15 maximum) you are allowed to repeat, and the grade from your recent prior attempt stands.
    
6. The course you retake must be the identical course as determined by the Registrar.
   1. Independent learning/studies and field experience courses may not be used to repeat a course for grade replacement.
   2. Classes ineligible for Grade Forgiveness are those courses that are designated in the catalog as repeatable for credit (i.e., independent studies, field experience, thesis hours, etc.) and special topics courses with the following exceptions:
      1. Special topics courses are eligible for Grade Forgiveness if the same special topic is taken again.
      2. Special topic courses that become a regular course (i.e., offered originally as a special topics course and then offered as a regular course) are eligible for Grade Forgiveness.
          
7. You cannot exceed a maximum total of 15 undergraduate credits using Grade Forgiveness. Please see examples under "Considerations" in the drop-down box below.
    
8. You must review the considerations section below and should consult with applicable departments, such as academic advising and financial aid, for support. Students must contact Financial Aid if they have already taken a course twice and are now seeking to take it again for Grade Forgiveness.
    
9. Once the grade for the course repeated for Grade Forgiveness has been posted to your academic record, the request cannot be revoked or reversed. Please see the Grade Forgiveness Procedures for the steps and timeline for revoking a Grade Forgiveness request.
    
10. No retroactive adjustments or transactions for prior semesters will be performed as a result of you repeating a course, including but not limited to changes in academic standing, honors eligibility, or financial aid eligibility.
     
11. You will not be allowed to use a repeated course for Grade Forgiveness where the original grade is determined to be the result of academic dishonesty.
     
12. You are still responsible for all normal tuition and fees for both the original course and the repeated course.

The following factors are important for students to consider before they decide to pursue repeating a course pursuant to the Grade Forgiveness policy. Please consult with applicable departments, such as Academic Advising, Financial Aid, or Office of Military and Veteran Affairs for help determining how repeating courses may affect your educational goals.

1. Repeating a course does not allow a student to count both attempts towards graduation credit. Degree Audit ensures a specific course’s credit can only be counted once towards graduation. Academic advisors will monitor progress toward graduation and repeated courses.
    
2. Students are encouraged to inform their instructors, advisors and mentors as soon as possible of any extenuating circumstances that may potentially contribute to a poor grade in a course they are taking. By working with advisors, faculty, and staff, students may be able to raise their grade to an acceptable level or be encouraged to withdraw from the course and not need to exercise this Grade Forgiveness after the fact.
    
3. Students who plan to apply to graduate or professional school should be aware that some graduate/professional programs will recalculate a G.P.A. to include all grades from a transcript when considering graduate/professional school applications. In this case, courses retaken under this Grade Forgiveness policy may not actually help their G.P.A. for their application to graduate/professional school.
    
4. Program, department and/or college policies at UCCS related to grade requirements for entry into the unit may not recognize Grade Forgiveness. Even if a student declares they are repeating a course for Grade Forgiveness, students may be prevented from entering certain programs, departments and/or colleges due to the original grade earned in the course.
    
5. Program, department and/or college policies at UCCS related to grade requirements for remaining in (or continuing in) the unit may not recognize Grade Forgiveness. Even if a student declares they are repeating a course for Grade Forgiveness, students may be prevented from continuing in certain programs, departments and/or colleges due to the original grade earned in the course.

Examples regarding grades and GPA:

1. What happens if a student retakes a course for Grade Forgiveness and receives a lower grade the second time?
    
   • A student takes a course for the first time and receives a C-. The student arranges to take the course again using Grade Forgiveness and receives a D. Only the D will count in the student’s transcript GPA. The second grade will count in the GPA even if lower.
      
2. What happens if a student has already taken a course twice and wants to take it a 3rd time using Grade Forgiveness?
    
   • A student takes a course two times, then takes it a third time using Grade Forgiveness. The first grade received will count in the GPA, the second one will not count in the GPA (it is forgiven), and the third grade received will count in the GPA.
      
3. When will my transcript reflect my Grade Forgiveness attempt?
    
   • Grade forgiveness will not reflect on your official transcript or in Degree Audit until the end of the semester and all university grades are posted.

Examples regarding the 15 credit hour maximum per student:

1. What happens if students are pursuing dual bachelor’s degrees? Can they use 15 credits of Grade Forgiveness for each bachelor’s degree or is it 15 credits total?
    
   • Grade Forgiveness opportunities cannot exceed a maximum of 15 undergraduate credits total per student. If a student is pursuing dual bachelor’s degrees and uses 9 credit hours of Grade Forgiveness toward one degree and wants to use Grade Forgiveness toward their other degree, they will have 6 credit hours remaining to use.
      
2. What happens if students switch degrees/majors? Does the counting of the 15 credits start over with the degree/major change?
    
   • No, the counting does not start over with the degree/major change. If they have used 6 credits of Grade Forgiveness while pursuing one major, they will have 9 credit hours of Grade Forgiveness remaining after they switch majors, toward their maximum of 15 undergraduate credits total per student.
      
3. What happens if students graduate with one bachelor’s degree and come back later to pursue another bachelor’s degree? Can they apply for a new 15 credit hours of Grade Forgiveness during pursuit of the subsequent degree?
    
   • No, the 15 credit hour maximum applies regardless of degrees pursued. If a student uses 12 credit hours of Grade Forgiveness while earning a bachelor’s degree, then returns later to pursue another bachelor’s degree, they will have 3 credit hours of Grade Forgiveness remaining for their subsequent degree.

1. This policy applies only to undergraduate, degree-seeking students. Students who have graduated are not eligible for Grade Forgiveness for courses taken for a previous degree.
    
2. This policy does not supersede or alter existing campus, college, department, or program course repetition policies.
    
3. Please review the "Considerations" drop-down on this page to determine if Grade Forgiveness is right for you.
    
4. To review the approved UCCS policy (#200-026), please visit the Grade Forgiveness Policy page.

Grade Forgiveness Process

*Please be sure to review the Grade Forgiveness Eligibility section of this website before submitting a request. Any course taken prior to fall 2021 would be ineligible.*

1. You must be enrolled in the exact same course in which you are requesting grade forgiveness for to be eligible. If you are not enrolled in the course, your request will be denied.
    
2. You cannot be waitlisted for the repeated course you wish to use Grade Forgiveness for. If you are waitlisted for the course you wish to forgive, your request will be denied.
    
3. You must submit your request form by the course census date for the repeated course. If your request is submitted after the course's specified census date, you must provide a detailed explanation for why your request should be approved after the deadline. Please note that these requests are decided on a case by case basis and you must have some sort of extenuating circumstance for why your request is being submitted after the deadline. Visit Dates and Deadlines to review census date information.
4. You will receive an email confirmation once the Registrar's office has received your request. Check your email frequently for updates. If further information is needed, you will receive an additional email. 
    
5. Your request may take 5-10 business days before it is reviewed and a decision made on the eligibility of the course. You will receive an additional email once the request has been reviewed, stating if it has been approved or denied.
6. If approved, the previous course attempt will be excluded from your GPA about 2-3 weeks after the current semester has concluded.

Grade Forgiveness Request Form