Policy 5240D

CHANGE OF GRADES/ACADEMIC FORGIVENESS

Effective Date
April 1984
Last Revision Date
June 2026
Policy Owner
Vice President of Student Services

1. Policy & Purpose 

The College under certain circumstances allows recorded grades to be changed. Students in any of the following three situations may have their grades changed: 

  • Students who have been given an incorrect grade
  • Student who repeat the course
  • Under academic forgiveness, a student may have a block of courses removed from their grade point average and credit calculations. 

Policy included in Catalog

Last Review Date: June 11, 2026

History
Adopted: April 26, 1984
Revised: May 26, 1988
Revised: February 22, 1996
Reformatted: May 3, 2011
Revised: October 8, 2015
Revised: June 11, 2026


Procedure 5240D

CHANGE OF GRADES/ACADEMIC FORGIVENESS

Effective Date
April 1984
Last Revision Date
June 2026
Procedure Owner
Vice President of Student Services

1. Procedure

Grade Corrections 
Students may request a grade correction from their faculty member if a mistake is made in computing or recording a grade. The mistake must be discovered and corrected in the semester following the course completion. After the end of the following semester, no changes will be made. 

Notified of the mistake within these time limits, the faculty member must complete and submit a Change of Grade form to the Office of the Registrar and the correction will be made to the student record. 

Repeating a Course 
Students may repeat any Western course. 

Although the record of all previous grades in that course will remain, the College uses only the last grade earned in a course, unless the grade is a withdrawal, to compute grade point averages. 

Students may repeat a course as many times as they wish. Regardless, only the last grade earned will be used to compute grade point average. A small number of courses may be taken multiple times for credit. These exceptions are listed in the College catalog. 

Academic Forgiveness 
Students may apply for Academic Forgiveness to remove complete past semesters from their GPA calculations. Students may request an unlimited number of terms to be forgiven; however, this is a one-time option for students. Students will not be granted a second opportunity to apply for Academic Forgiveness under any circumstance. To qualify for Academic Forgiveness, the student must submit the Academic Forgiveness form to the Office of the Registrar and meet the following criteria: 

  • Having been absent from Western for a minimum of three years (six semesters, excluding summer term)
  • Upon returning to Western, complete one semester with a minimum of six credit hours, earning a term GPA of 2.0 or higher. 

Policy included in Catalog

Last Review Date: June 11, 2026

History
Adopted: April 26, 1984
Approved: May 26, 1988
Revised: February 22, 1996
Revised: March 9, 2006
Reformatted: May 3, 2011
Revised: October 8, 2015
Revised: June 11, 2026