Scope

Undergraduate students seeking their first baccalaureate degree.

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Policy Statement

The Grade Replacement Policy (formerly known as the FX policy) allows approved undergraduate students enrolled at IU Indianapolis, IU Columbus, or IU Fort Wayne and seeking their first baccalaureate degree to repeat a maximum of 15 credit hours subject to school/division approval. If a student chooses to repeat a course and achieves the same or higher grade, only that grade earned on retake will be counted in the GPA and the credit hours from the original course shall not be counted.

Certain restrictions apply so students should consult their academic school/division prior to invoking grade replacement.

It is the student’s responsibility to notify the school that the course has been taken a second time and that the student wishes to exercise this option for the first grade prior to graduation. Replacement does not happen automatically.

This policy is not available for graduate students or students seeking any second undergraduate baccalaureate degree.

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Reason for Policy

The purpose of this policy is to allow students who have done poorly in a course to repeat the course and remove the weight of the earlier grade from the student's grade point average.

Grade replacement is seen as a reasonable option for a student who, new to higher education, had a less-than-optimal start and is trying to get a second chance. This is why the new policy is limited to undergraduate students seeking their first baccalaureate degree.

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Procedures

1. The provisions apply to students pursuing their first undergraduate baccalaureate degree only.
2. A student may exercise the grade replacement policy for a maximum of 15 credit hours. The 15-credit hour limit includes any course previously replaced under historical FX or graduate replacement policy.
3. A student may exercise the graduate replacement policy no more than two times for a single course. Each attempted replacement will count towards the 15-credit limit.
4. Grade replacement is available only for courses taken at Indiana University. Once invoked, a student may not subsequently request reversal of the grade replacement granted to a particular course.
5. Students who re-enroll in a course must initiate a request for grade replacement with their academic unit prior to graduation. Replacement does not happen automatically. Consent of the principal administrator of the student’s degree-granting unit is required.
6. Any grade may be replaced. The repeated course grade must be the same as or higher than the previous attempt at the course. A student must receive a letter grade upon retake in order to change the previous grade to an “X.” The previous grade remains on the transcript if the student receives a “W,” “I”, “R”, or “NC” in the retaken course.
7. Only the grade earned on retake shall be counted toward grade point average. The credit hours from the replaced course shall not be counted.
8. Grade replacement will appear on the official student transcript as follows:
   • Replacement applied to fall 2021 courses and beyond: the replaced grade shall be changed to an “X”. The original grade shall not appear on the transcript but may be retained as an internal grade by the student’s unit and the campus registrar.
   • Replacement applied to courses between 1996 – summer 2021: the replaced grade remains on the student's academic record with an "X" placed next to the original grade denoting that the grade is excluded from the grade point average.
   • Replacement of courses prior to 1996: only grades of F could be replaced and were denoted with an “FX”.
9. Students shall be allowed to replace the grade in any course unless the faculty of a unit decides that it will not allow its students to replace grades in courses required for a major, minor, certificate, honors program, or other recognition by the unit.
10. The course that the student retakes should be the same course as the previous one, but need not be offered by the same instructor. Account should be taken of the fact that course numbers and titles are occasionally changed. The principal administrator of the unit offering the original course shall determine whether there is course equivalency.
11. Invocation of the Fresh Start through Academic Renewal option does not preclude a student from using grade replacement for work taken after re-enrollment as defined by the Fresh Start Policy.
12. The grade replacement option may not be exercised if the original grade was assigned as a result of the student’s academic misconduct.

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History

IFC Academic Affairs Committee: 11-01-1995

Approved by the Academic Policies and Procedures Committee with the stipulation that academic units will interpret as appropriate for their unit or not implement if it is not applicable and in concert with their requirements: 02-08-1996

Approved by the IU Indianapolis Faculty Council: 12-01-1996

Policy clarification from "first undergraduate degree" to "first baccalaureate degree" approved by the Academic Affairs Committee, IU Indianapolis Faculty Council: 12-14-15; effective fall 2015.

Due to the circumstances surrounding the COVID pandemic, courses in the spring 2020 term were exempt from the 15-credit hour grade replacement maximum. This applied to courses taken in spring 2020 to replace prior term courses as well as courses taken in future terms used to replace courses completed in spring 2020.

Revisions to align with updated university policy on Grades and Grading (ACA-66) approved by the IU Indianapolis Faculty Council: 05-03-2022

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