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Grade Point Average (GPA) Adjustment

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Effective Date: Fall 2026
Last Reviewed: Fall 2025
Last Revised: Fall 2023
Next Review: Spring 2036

Policy Statement

The Grade Point Average (GPA) Adjustment policy provides students with the opportunity to make progress toward degree completion by allowing them to remove a specified number of courses with grades C- or lower from the calculation of their overall GPA and earned hours.

  • Undergraduate students: maximum of six courses
  • Graduate students: maximum of three courses

Eligibility

To be eligible for a GPA adjustment, students must meet all the following conditions at the time of the request:

  1. Officially admitted, reenrolled or reinstated* to Kent State and
  2. Seeking a Kent State degree, certificate or teacher licensure/endorsement program and
  3. Enrolled in credit-bearing courses at Kent State.
*

Students who are dismissed may apply for GPA Adjustment if they appeal and are reinstated to Kent State.

Students with a previous degree or certificate and currently enrolled in a subsequent program are eligible with the following stipulations:

  • Students who earned a Kent State associate or bachelor’s degree or undergraduate certificate may request a GPA adjustment for failed grades (F, NF, SF, U) and only C-, D+ and D grades for the courses that were not used toward earning the previous degree/certificate.
  • Students who earned a non-Kent State associate or bachelor’s degree or undergraduate certificate may request a GPA adjustment for failed grades (F, NF, SF, U) earned before or after the awarded degree/certificate and only C-, D+ and D grades earned after the awarded degree/certificate.
  • Students who earned a Kent State master's, post-master's or doctoral degree, graduate certificate or teacher licensure/endorsement program may request a GPA adjustment for failed grades (F, NF, SF, U) and only C-, D+ and D grades for the courses that were not used toward earning the previous degree/certificate.

Reason for Policy

This GPA Adjustment policy is an alternative to the Course Repeat policy and allows students to request specific course grades to be removed from their GPA and overall credit hours subjected to specific conditions for eligibility and approval.

Procedures

To apply for a GPA adjustment, students must complete the following steps:

  1. Meet with their academic advisor or program coordinator to begin an application.
  2. Select up to the maximum number of courses (six for undergraduate students and three for graduate students) with grades C-, D+, D, F, NF, SF, M and/or U to be removed from the GPA and earned hours.

Once the steps outlined above have been completed, the Office of the University Registrar will remove the student-selected grades from the calculation of the student’s GPA and earned hours. The grades will be retained on the student's transcript with the notation of an “E” (excluded) in the repeat column. The official grade for the courses will be changed to X* (e.g., XC-, XD) to denote a GPA adjustment.

The following stipulations to course forgiveness will be enforced:

  1. The GPA Adjustment policy applies only to coursework taken at Kent State University and only to the students’ Kent State transcript. Students cannot request the policy for grades earned from transfer courses.
  2. Students cannot request the policy for courses taken for a credit/no-credit grade.
  3. The course must officially be recorded on the student’s transcript for grade adjustment to be considered.
  4. Students selecting a GPA adjustment for a course required to graduate with their declared program must retake this course unless the dean of the college in which they are enrolled approves a suitable substitution.
  5. The unadjusted GPA — including all courses subject to the GPA Adjustment policy — will be used in determining undergraduate eligibility for Latin honors and satisfactory academic progress for federal financial aid, based on the students’ complete undergraduate or graduate academic record.
  6. A student may submit multiple requests for GPA adjustment until the maximum number of courses are met. Students cannot request this policy for a course in a degree or certificate program after that degree or certificate has been awarded.
  7. Once the course grade and credit hours have been removed from the student’s GPA and earned hours, they will not, under any circumstances, be reinstated.
  8. A graduate school or academic program may, at its discretion, review a student’s complete academic record, including any courses subject to the GPA Adjustment policy, when making admission decisions.

Forms/Instructions

  • Students must contact their academic advisor or program coordinator to begin an application.

Additional Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is the difference between the GPA Adjustment policy and the Course Repeat policy?
    GPA Adjustment allows you to select a specified number of courses — six if you are an undergraduate student and three if you are a graduate student — with grades C- and lower to be removed from the calculation of your GPA and overall credit hours. Course Repeat also allows courses to be excluded from your GPA; however, in contrast to the GPA Adjustment Policy, you must take the same course again (i.e., repeat), and have only the highest grade earned in the attempts applied to your GPA. You should consult with your academic advisor or program coordinator regarding both policies to help determine which one applies best to your circumstances.
  2. How will using GPA Adjustment affect my financial aid?
    Courses forgiven under GPA Adjustment still will be used in determining your financial aid eligibility. Grades and credit hours (earned and attempted) from forgiven courses will be reflected in your Satisfactory Academic Progress calculation found in FlashLine.
  3. Who can I talk to if I have further questions about this policy?
    You should talk with your academic advisor or program coordinator. That person will explain the policy and its impact on your academic situation.

Additional FAQ: GPA Adjustment

Definitions

Admitted: Offered admission to enroll in a program at Kent State University.

Earned Hours: Credit hours for courses that the student completed with a grade or administrative mark that is considered passing.

Enrolled: Student has completed course registration for a specific term.

GPA (Grade Point Average): An indication of a student's academic achievement at Kent State University, determined by the number of credit hours attempted at Kent State University and the grades received. The Kent State GPA is calculated to three places past the decimal point and not rounded.

GPS Degree Audit: A summary of all official program requirements merged with the student’s academic record to provide a real-time assessment of progress toward graduation.

Reenrolled: Act of being restored to active-student status in order to register for courses and pursue completion of an academic program after an absence of one full academic year or longer.

Reinstated: Act of being restored to active-student status after academic dismissal in order to register for courses and pursue completion of an academic program.

Student Transcript: The accurate and complete record of a student's academic coursework attempted at an institution, presented in either electronic format or paper format.

Related Information

Revision History

Effective Fall 2026: Revised policy allows graduate students to request the policy to remove a maximum of three courses with grades C- or lower from the calculation of their overall GPA and earned hours.

Amended Fall 2023: Revised policy clarifies that students must be seeking a Kent State undergraduate degree/certificate and enrolled in undergraduate Kent State courses (i.e., not open to guest students or former students who do not return to Kent State). In addition, the required quiz is eliminated; instead, students initial each statement that was part of the quiz on their application request.

Amended Fall 2022: Revised policy eliminates the one-year away requirement from Kent State, allows students with a previous degree to be eligible with certain stipulations, replaces GPA and credit-hours requirement for eligibility with requirement that students meet with their academic advisor and provide a written statement describing their plan to assure successful academic performance in the future. Instead of removing all grades C- and lower from the GPA, students select a maximum of six courses with grades C- and lower to be removed. Policy is renamed Grade Point Average (GPA) Adjustment.

Amended Fall 2012: Revised policy applies to the clause for Kent State associate degree holders to allow forgiveness to be applied toward any course not used for a previous associate or certificate degree, rather an any course after earning the previous credential.

Amended Fall 2011: Revised policy decreases the time away from three (two for veterans) to one year for all students; and removes stipulation that students cannot take coursework elsewhere for at last three years. Students who earned a Kent State associate degree are now eligible for coursework taken after that degree.

Amended Fall 2005: Revised policy add C- to the list of grades that are forgiven after eligibility.

Amended Fall 1981: Revised policy decreases the time away only for students who were enlisted in the armed forces, from three to two years. Former students who did complete coursework elsewhere may be eligible if three years passed since that study. Revision also adds an eligibility requirement of 15-30 credit hours of graded coursework with a 2.000 GPA. Once eligible, all grades D or lower are forgiven.

Effective Fall 1976: Establishes a formal Academic Forgiveness policy for all undergraduate students. To be eligible, former students must be away from the university for three or more calendar years and have not attended another university during that time.

Effective Fall 1968: Establishes an administrative policy regarding academic forgiveness for former students who had left the university to serve in the armed forces. To be eligible, students must be away from the university for three or more calendar years.