20. A Policy on Academic Forgiveness
The Academic Forgiveness policy allows a returning student to apply to the Registrar’s Office for academic forgiveness of their prior cumulative grade point average. The policy is designed for undergraduate and technology students who have had a period of absence from their academic program and have demonstrated acceptable academic performance following their return. The Academic Forgiveness policy is subject to the following regulations.
20.A.1 Regulations
1. Academic Forgiveness applies only to returning undergraduate and technology students who have had an absence of at least three calendar years from their program or faculty at Dalhousie University.
2. For undergraduate students, a minimum of 24 credit hours of coursework, or for Diploma in Technology students, a minimum of eight credit hours, with a grade point average of at least 2.0, must be completed after returning before a written request for Academic Forgiveness may be submitted to the Registrar’s Office.
3. Academic Forgiveness will affect the student’s cumulative grade point average in all courses taken prior to the minimum three year absence. Academic Forgiveness applies to all courses taken at all colleges/universities during the forgiveness period, not only selected courses or terms.
4. No punitive grades resulting from an Academic Discipline decision will be forgiven.
5. A student can have the Academic Forgiveness policy applied to their academic record only one time.
With the approval of the Registrar or designate, in consultation with the Dean, the student will be granted Academic Forgiveness. The student’s transcript will remain a record of all coursework completed and original grades obtained. Courses taken prior to the three or more year absence will not be used in computing the student’s cumulative grade point average, with the exception of punitive grades awarded as the result of an Academic Discipline decision. Students will be eligible to retain credit for courses in which they received a passing grade. However students will be required to complete at least half the credit hours required for their academic program following Academic Forgiveness before they will be eligible to graduate.
The transcript will have “Academic Forgiveness” noted on it at the end of the last term for which the student receives forgiveness.