Undergraduate students who have not attended Indiana University for at least two years, are pursuing their first bachelor’s degree, and are returning to IU Northwest for the fall semester, 2010 or later, may request academic forgiveness. Forgiveness means that all grades earned during the term(s) in question will not be counted in the calculation of the program GPA. The grades will remain on the student’s official transcript and will count in the IU GPA. Academic forgiveness may be requested for no more than two terms of IU Northwest coursework. Two consecutive summer sessions may be considered a single academic term for purposes of this policy. The petition must be submitted upon application for admission to a degree-granting unit. If the student has not yet been admitted to a degree-granting unit, the student should submit a notification of intent to petition for academic forgiveness as part of the academic advising process. Academic forgiveness may be invoked only once in a student’s academic career. Academic forgiveness is inapplicable to any grades issued as a result of academic dishonesty. Academic forgiveness petition forms are available from your academic school or division. 

Beginning with the Fall 2010 semester, after approval of the Academic forgiveness petition, the original grades will remain on a student’s academic record (official and unofficial transcripts), but the GPA and hours earned calculations will be adjusted appropriately in the Program statistics. 

Academic forgiveness does not impact/change the Indiana University earned hours or GPA calculations. The policy does impact the Student Program statistics in order to provide academic units at IU Northwest with statistics that support awarding an IU Northwest degree(s). Academic forgiveness is campus-specific. Semesters forgiven at IU Northwest need not be forgiven at any other IU campus. Academic forgiveness only applies to students who have not completed a bachelor’s degree. Invocation of academic forgiveness does not preclude a student using other available, course-specific grade replacement options, subject to each academic unit’s rules and procedures. The Academic Forgiveness Policy does not circumvent any specific additional admissions or grade policies by particular schools/divisions.

On the Degree Progress report, a text statement will be placed above the semester approved for forgiveness that reads: “Academic courses for this term are forgiven by IU Northwest, mm/dd/yyyy.” In addition, under each course forgiven, there will be a text statement that reads: “Attention: No Academic Program Credit or GPA (Forgiven).”