Academic Renewal

Academic Renewal is the process that matriculated students seeking a bachelor's degree follow, under limited circumstances, to remove the punitive effect of past academic failures. (A matriculated student is regularly enrolled after being admitted to the university.)

There are two ways to achieve Academic Renewal: Repetition of a Course and Forgiveness of Previous Term(s).

Repetition of Courses

Students may repeat a course, which means the earlier attempt is ignored in GPA calculations, but not removed from the student record, subject to the following conditions:

General Education course equivalencies:

Certain General Education courses are considered equivalent for the purposes of academic renewal. Therefore, students will receive credit for only one course in each of the following groups (i.e., ART, BIOL).

ART 1010, 1011, 1014; BIOL 1000, 1001, 1003, 1005, 1007, 1008, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004; BIOL 1002, 1004, 2005; BIOL 2010, 2011; BIOL 2020, 2021; CHEM 1000, 2001, 2002; CHEM 1601, 1605; DANC 1200, 1201, 1202, 1203; ENSC 2800, 2801, 2802; ENVT 2000, 2001; ES 1002, 2002; GEOL 1001, 1003, 1004, 1005, 1006; GEOL 2100, 2101; GEOL 2300, 2301; HIST 1014, 1017; HIST 1015, 2018; HIST 1016, 2019; HSC 1100, 2100; KPE 1625, 1626; MUS 1000, 2020; MUS/ANTH 1004, MUS 1014; MUS 1006, 2130; PHIL 1605, 2605; PHYS 1500, 1700; PHYS 1600, 1800; PSYC 1000, 1001, 1005, 2004, 2009; SOC 1000, 1001, 1002, 2001, 2002, 2255; THEA 1010, 1011, 1016.

Students must file a "Petition for Academic Renewal" with the Office of Academic Programs and Graduate Studies (WA 859) if:

1. the course prefix and/or number has changed, or the course is Independent Study.
2. the first attempt was at another accredited post-secondary institution.

Petitions are available in the department offering the course at Cal State East Bay. The chair of the department must certify that the courses are equivalent. (This means the course content is substantially identical. It does not mean merely that the courses meet the same requirement.) After the petition has been approved by the chair of the department offering the course, students must file it with the Associate Vice President, Academic Programs and Graduate Studies before the end of the Add/Drop period for that quarter. The Associate Vice President, Academic Programs and Graduate Studies must then approve the petition. A denied petition is promptly mailed to the student by the Academic Programs and Graduate Studies Office. An approved petition is sent to Planning and Enrollment Management. The previous attempt will be excluded from the student’s GPA calculations after the end of the quarter in which the course is repeated and may not be reflected in that quarter's grade report.

Note: The CSU system normally forbids retroactive Academic Renewal. Students should file the petition before reregistering for the course to give time to adjust the program if the petition is denied.

Students can only renew up to 20 units of coursework. If students go over that limit, the quality hours and quality points of all subsequently repeated courses will be averaged, while the units earned for these subsequent attempts will not be counted. Students who have repeated more than 5 courses or 20 units may petition, through their advisor (EOP, EXCEL, GE, major, or UAC), to select which 5 courses or 20 units will be academically renewed.

Academic Renewal is not possible in the following circumstances:

1. Students cannot repeat any one course for academic renewal, more than once. If this is done, the quality hours and quality points of all subsequent repeats will be averaged, while the units earned for these subsequent attempts will not be counted.
2. Students cannot renew a grade of "C-" or better. If students do repeat a class in which the original grade was a "C-" or higher, the quality hours and quality points of all attempts will be used to calculate grade point average, while only the units earned for the first attempt will be counted.
3. Students cannot renew a "D," "D+," "F," "I," "IC," or "WU" grades with an "F," "NC," "I," "IC," or "WU."
4. Academic Renewal cannot be approved for any grade assigned as a result of academic dishonesty.
5. If the original grade(s) was assigned at Cal State East Bay, Academic Renewal by repeating a course at another institution is normally not possible. (Exceptions can be made for disqualified students who file an approved petition prior to repeating the course elsewhere, but only to the extent necessary for their readmission.)

Cal State East Bay honors the Academic Renewal policies of other institutions as stated on their transcripts.

Students should not file a "Petition for Academic Renewal" if:

1. the original grade was "NC." Students may repeat the course but there is no Academic Renewal because the "NC" grade has no effect on the GPA.
2. the original grade is still an "I." Students cannot get Academic Renewal because the "I" does not affect the GPA. If the grade has been changed to an "IC," Academic Renewal is possible.

Forgiveness of Previous Term(s)

Under the most extenuating circumstances, students can petition to exclude from degree requirements and GPA computations up to three quarters (or up to two semesters) of coursework taken at any institution.

To have a petition approved, a student must meet certain conditions and follow the process described below.

Approval of a petition requires satisfaction of all the following conditions:

• the coursework to be excluded does not represent the student’s scholastic ability, and that this substandard performance was due to an extenuating circumstance;
• the student would be compelled to complete additional courses or enroll in additional quarters to achieve the baccalaureate degree if the petition is not approved;
• five years have elapsed since the most recent coursework to be excluded was completed

Students must complete the following steps:

• complete the student’s portion of the "Academic Renewal, Forgiveness of Previous Term(s)" petition available in the Student Information Lobby
• obtain the major advisor's approval on the petition
• file the petition in the Student Information Lobby. If eligible, Enrollment Management certifies that the student meets the above conditions, attaches a copy of the student’s academic record, and forwards the package to the Academic Renewal committee in the Provost's Office. The committee acts upon all petitions by majority vote.

If Enrollment Management determines a student does not meet the conditions, the student is notified and no action is taken.

Cal State East Bay honors the exclusion policies of the originating institution. Each term excluded by another institution reduces by one the number of terms that Cal State East Bay will consider for exclusion.