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Academic Forgiveness

The intent of this policy is to allow readmitted students who previously accrued a record with a substantial number of grades below 2.0 to be “forgiven” for their earlier performance, if they meet the stated criteria.

Academic Forgiveness in this context means that the student’s previous college work shall be treated as if it had been transferred to SUNY Potsdam from another college: none of the grades received would be counted in the current GPA, but the student would receive credit for any courses in which he/she earned a 1.0 or above grade (or S, S*, or Cr). Courses for which credit was received could be used to fulfill General Education requirements, but could not count towards a major or minor unless passed with a 2.0 or higher grade, at the discretion of the chair of the department.

The criteria for being granted Academic Forgiveness and the stipulations of the policy follow:

  1. The student must have not taken any coursework at SUNY Potsdam for a minimum of four calendar years at the time of readmission.
  2. The student must not have attempted more than four full-time semesters or 48 hours of credit at SUNY Potsdam previous to read-mission. If Academic Forgiveness is granted, all previous work will be treated as transfer work; the student cannot choose to retain the grades from a particular semester.
  3. The student is not eligible to apply for Academic Forgiveness until he/she has completed one full-time semester or 12 hours of credit as a readmitted student; in this first full-time semester or 12 hours of credit, the student must have completed every course with a minimum 2.0 grade, and have received a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 for this work.
  4. If approved for Academic Forgiveness, a notation to this effect will be made on the student’s SUNY Potsdam transcript, and a new cumulative GPA will be calculated for all work beginning with the semester of readmission. This new GPA will be printed on the official transcript, and used for computing the student’s academic standing, and for meeting the minimum 2.0 GPA requirement for graduation. However, the previous SUNY Potsdam work will continue to be listed on the transcript with the original grades received.
  5. Once Academic Forgiveness has been granted, the student will be eligible for Graduation with Honors based on the same criteria as those applied to transfer students.
  6. Academic Forgiveness may be granted only once in a student’s college career.
  7. The Provost of the College (or designee) may consider exceptions to any of the above requirements.
  8. To be considered under this policy, the student must file a Petition for Academic Forgiveness HERE within one semester of completion of the above requirements, and the petition must be approved by the Provost of the College (or designee).