Academic Advising

Grade Forgiveness

 

Grade Forgiveness Request Form

The Office of the Registrar suggests consulting with an Academic Advisor to determine which courses to apply for forgiveness, and when to use the three (3) grade forgivenesses. A Grade Forgiveness is not permissible when repeating a course after receiving an “FF” grade indicating academic dishonesty.USF’s Grade Forgiveness policy permits Undergraduate and Non-Degree students only to repeat a course and have the repeated grade and hours earned computed in his/her GPA in place of the original grade and hours earned, providing the repeat grade is “D” or higher (exception – see Honors at Graduation).

If the repeated grade is “F”, both grades will be calculated into the cumulative GPA. Normally, grade forgiveness may only be applied to a specific course that a student chooses to repeat. No course taken on the S/U grade basis may have the grade forgiveness applied. Under unusual circumstances, a different but similar course may be used if the substitute course has been previously approved by the college Dean and is on file in the Office of the Registrar.

Students choosing to apply for grade forgiveness must

  1. Complete a separate “Grade Forgiveness Request Form” after each course repeated.
  2. Adhere to the following conditions
    1. A limitation of three grade forgiveness of USF courses with no more than one repeat per course.
      1. With prior approval of the college Dean, a course different from a course on the approved list may be substituted if the substitute course has had a change in prefix, number, hours, or title, but not a substantive change in content.
      2. The substitute course replaces a course no longer offered by the institution.
    2. The repeated course must be taken on the A+ through F grading system, and the latest grade must be D- or higher.
    3. All grades remain on the transcript. The original course grade will be annotated with “E” to indicate that the course has subsequently been repeated and neither the original grade nor the original hours earned are computed in the GPA.
    4. Individual colleges may have further restrictions; therefore, the student should consult with his/her college.
    5. A Grade Forgiveness will not be processed if the second attempt/grade is lower than the first attempt/grade.

This policy only applies to 1000-to-5000-level courses. Once students have been awarded a bachelor’s degree from USF, they may not repeat a course and be forgiven the original grade, taken prior to graduation. The policy applies only to courses taken originally at USF and repeated at USF.

Send completed form to: registrarupdates@usf.edu

Additional questions? Contact your academic advisor.