RETAKING COURSES AND GRADE REPLACEMENT POLICY

Graduate and undergraduate students may retake courses, and undergraduate students may repeat courses under certain circumstances. It is important for students to understand that “retaking a course” and “repeating a course” mean very different things at Ramapo College. These differences are explained in the procedure.

PROCEDURE

At Ramapo College, “retaking” a course is different from “repeating” a course. Each action is described fully below.

Graduate Students

Graduate students may, without any additional requirements, retake once a course they already took regardless of whether they passed or failed it. If the course was previously passed, the student must submit a Request to Retake a Course Form in the Office of the Registrar before registering for the course.

Any student who would like to retake a course more than once may do so only with the permission of the Graduate Program Director (for the program the student is enrolled in) and the Academic Dean of the School that offers the course.  (Note:  If a student retakes a course, the course credits may only be counted once toward fulfilling degree requirements. Therefore, the credits issued for the course when it was originally taken must be subtracted from the “earned credit” column on the transcript and degree evaluation, and only the credits issued when the course is retaken will count as “earned credit.”

The decision to retake a course is left to student discretion except when a student has earned a grade lower than what is established by the program for a prerequisite course, if applicable, or an “F” in a program-required course.  When this occurs, the failed course must be retaken in order to successfully complete all degree requirements.

Retaking a course will affect the student’s transcript and grade point average (GPA) in the following ways:

1. When a student retakes a course, all courses and all grades earned appear on the transcript.
2. When a student retakes a course, all grades earned are included in the calculation of the student’s cumulative GPA, which is used for determination of academic standing.  Only the highest grade earned is included in the calculation of the student’s graduate program GPA, used to determine graduation eligibility.

REPEATING COURSES

Graduate Students

Graduate students are also allowed to “repeat courses” under certain circumstances.

Graduate students may choose to apply for the “repeat course option” which allows a grade previously earned in the course to be excluded from the cumulative grade point average (GPA) calculation.  (Note:  Repeating a course does not remove the previously-earned grade from the graduate student’s academic transcript.)

A graduate student who wishes to repeat a course must complete the following steps and be aware of the following information:

1. A graduate student may repeat a course regardless of whether they previously passed or failed the course in order to try to earn a better grade.
2. The student should consult with their advisor before applying for the repeat course option.  Any graduate students who receive financial aid and who wish to repeat a course can only repeat a course once without having any impact on their financial aid award.
3. All graduate students that are receiving financial aid are required to maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA.  If a student loses their financial aid for failure of maintaining a 3.0 cumulative GPA, they have the right to appeal through the Office of Financial Aid.
4. Graduate students who have been notified that they are suspended or dismissed and wish to appeal their suspensions or dismissals must apply for all applicable repeat courses prior to submitting written appeals for immediate reinstatement.  Students who accept their suspensions or dismissals or who are later notified that the Dean did not accept their appeals may not apply for any repeat course options until such time as they regain probationary status.  Suspended students who serve their suspension terms and later apply successfully for reinstatement or readmission on probationary status may again use the repeat course option.
5. All repeat course options must be requested by the time a student applies for graduation following the Graduation Application deadline posted on the Academic Calendar.
6. The following guidelines and limitations apply to repeat course option grading:

• • If a graduate student wishes to use the repeat course option, the student must apply to and obtain approval from the Graduate Program Director (for the program in which the student is enrolled in).  If the course was previously passed, the student must also submit a Request to Retake a Course Form in the Office of the Registrar before registering for the course.
  • The repeat course option is only available two times total during a student’s graduate academic career at the College.
  • Only one repeat course option can be issued per course, regardless of how many grades were previously earned in the course.  The lowest grade earned (or one of the lowest grades earned if the course was previously taken multiple times) will be excluded from the student’s cumulative GPA if a repeat course option is issued.
  • The course must bear the same subject, course number, and title as the course that is being repeated.  In cases where the course being repeated has been discontinued and is no longer active, the student may request the repeat course option be issued for the equivalent renumbered course (e.g., if SOSC 101 has been discontinued and its equivalent renumbered course is SOSC 110).  (Note:  A student cannot use a repeat course option for a discontinued course that is no longer offered and has not been replaced with an equivalent course.
  • The course may carry the same number or a different number of credits.  The repeat course option may be used for lecture/lab courses that have been discontinued and renumbered, which bear a different number of credits than the course be repeated (e.g., if the 4-credit BIOL 110 has been discontinued and its two equivalent renumbered courses are the 4-credit BIOL 111 plus the 1-credit BIOL 111L).
  • A course in which an academic integrity violation occurred and a sanction was imposed is not eligible for the repeat course option.  This applies regardless of whether the sanction imposed, as a consequence for the academic integrity violation, resulted in the course being passed or failed.
  • A student may not substitute an Independent Study for the course being repeated and use the repeat course option.
  • A student may not use the repeat course option for an Independent Study.
  • A student may not use the repeat course option for a Topics course unless the student repeats the course with an identical topic.
  • The repeat course option is not reversible at a later date.

Repeating a course will affect the student’s transcript and grade point average (GPA) in the following ways:

1. When a graduate student is approved for the repeat course option after successfully retaking a course, an R will appear immediately next to the original grade earned in the course on the student’s transcript (e.g., RC-, RD+, RF).
2. Once the repeat course option is applied, one lower grade previously earned in the course will be excluded from the calculation of the student’s cumulative GPA calculation.  Only the highest grade earned is included in the calculation of the student’s graduate program GPA, used to determine graduation eligibility (Important Note:  Some graduate/professional school admission processes will re-calculate a student’s GPA to included all grades earned.)
3. Once the repeat course grade (e.g., RC-, RD+, RF) is posted on the transcript, past and current cumulative and semester GPAs will be updated automatically, but the history of academic standing will not change on the unofficial transcript.

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