Academic Policies & Procedures
Undergraduate Policies & Procedures
Grade Replacement Policy
The IU Columbus Grade Replacement Policy (formerly known as the FX policy) was revised effective fall 1996. This policy allows approved undergraduate students seeking their first degree to repeat courses—a maximum of 15 credit hours subject to division approval—in order to improve poor grades, including grades of F. If a student earns the same or a higher grade after repeating the course, only the second grade will be counted in the cumulative GPA.
Replacement does not happen automatically, so students must notify the division advisor that the course has been taken a second time and that they wish to exercise this option. Certain restrictions apply, and the grade replacement policy may not be honored by some divisions when considering admission to the division or in computing graduation honors. For more information, students should contact their division.
The 15-credit-hour limit includes any course(s) previously replaced using the FX policy. A student may exercise the Grade Replacement Policy no more than two times for a single course, and once invoked, a student may not reverse the grade replacement granted in a particular course. The replaced grade will be excluded from the cumulative GPA, but the course and the replaced grade will remain on the student’s academic record with a notation indicating that the grade exists but is excluded from the cumulative GPA. The use of the forgiveness policy does not preclude a student from using grade replacement for course work taken subsequent to re-enrollment as defined by the forgiveness policy.
If the original course was taken on another IU campus, that campus must be willing to place the replacement flag on the course at the request of IU Columbus.
Not all units at IU Columbus accept the general policy as stated above. If a student changes programs, divisions, or campuses to a program that does not recognize the Grade Replacement Policy, the original grades will once again be averaged into the student’s GPA.
