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Course Forgiveness

What is course forgiveness?
You can repeat a course for course forgiveness if you earned a C- or lower grade and file for course forgiveness. While the original grade(s) will remain on the transcript, course forgiveness removes the old grade and replaces it with the new grade in your GPA. Course forgiveness uses the second attempt as the new grade, whether or not that grade was better than the first one. So, if you earned a D+ the first time and a D the second time, the D will be the grade that is kept, because it is the second one. Course forgiveness does not remove anything from the transcript, only from the GPA. There will always be a notation next to both courses on your transcript.

You are permitted to use course forgiveness four times for lower division and one time for an upper division course, except in cases where enrollment is restricted and you no longer qualify for admission to a course. In addition, course forgiveness is only applicable to undergraduate students pursuing a first bachelor's degree.

Per Senate policy, course forgiveness will not be granted if the Center for Student Rights and Responsibility finds the student guilty of academic dishonesty in that particular course.

How Do I Apply for Course Forgiveness?
You apply for course forgiveness by completing a form that is available in the Academic Advising Center or the Office of the Registrar. Once you have completed the form, it must be turned into the Office of the Registrar (SS-1641).

Course forgiveness should be requested within the first 15 days of the semester in which you are attending the repeated course (before the schedule adjustment deadline). If you file a late course forgiveness form, there is a $20 charge associated with the late filing.

When Can I Repeat the Course?
You do not have to repeat a course immediately. For example, if you take a course in the fall of 2005 semester and receive a D, you can repeat the course in the spring 2007.

Do I Have to Repeat the Course at SDSU? Can I Forgive a Course Taken Outside of SDSU?
Course forgiveness is only applied if you repeat the course at SDSU. You cannot use course forgiveness on a course that you originally took at SDSU and repeat at a community college. You must repeat the same exact course at SDSU. However, you can take it with a different instructor. If you are retaking a course for course forgiveness, you cannot take the new course for credit/no credit; it must be for a letter grade.

Course forgiveness may be extended to courses originally taken elsewhere and repeated at San Diego State University, in which case the original transfer grade will no longer be used in the calculation of the overall grade point average. However, the course forgiveness policy applies only to courses repeated at San Diego State University.

Does Course Forgiveness Apply to Every Course?
Course forgiveness applies only to repeats of the same course (same number, same title, and, for Experimental Topics courses, same subtitle). For example, if you earned a D+ grade in Econ 101, you must repeat Econ 101 when applying course forgiveness. Exceptions will be made only in those cases where the course number changes and the change is documented in the General Catalog.

In some cases, registration in a course may have become restricted due to impaction, limitation by major code, enforcement of prerequisites, or sequence requirements (e.g., mathematics and foreign language); in those cases, you are prohibited from repeating those courses.

The only courses which may be repeated Credit/No Credit are those in which you previously received No Credit; if a course previously taken for a grade is repeated Credit/No Credit, the original grade will continue to be calculated in grade point averages. Repeating courses in which the original grade was NC does not require the filing of the Course Forgiveness Petition, nor does it subtract from the five total forgivable repeats permitted, since the No Credit grade does not affect your GPA.

I have a "D" in Spanish 101 Spring 2005. Can I repeat it for forgiveness if I completed Spanish 102 with a "D" Fall 2006?
No. Spanish 101 is no longer open to you once you have earned credit in a higher level Spanish course. This applies to any foreign language.

I have completed SLHS 159, 259, and 289. I earned a D+ in SLHS 259. Can I repeat it for forgiveness?
No. No credit is allowed for any of these courses taken out of sequence. Once you earn credit in the higher skill level you may not repeat the lower level course(s.)

I have a "F" in English 100 "Rhetoric of Written English," a "C" in Africana Studies 120 "Composition," and "C-" in Africana Studies 200 "Intermediate Expository Writing and Research Fundamentals." Can I repeat English 100 for forgiveness?
No. English 100 is not open to you after completion of a higher numbered composition course. Africana 200 is a composition course. Always read the course description of the course you wish to repeat to find this restriction.