instructor lecturing students outside

Forgiveness/Rebuild Academic Record Policy

The Forgiveness Policy is for students who have experienced previous academic difficulty at COD and now want to build an academic record that is not weakened by past failures. You are encouraged to re-take classes whenever possible to achieve an improved grade.

You cannot remove unwanted grades from your transcripts. COD does not guarantee you the right to remove a grade if you do not meet the requirements of one of the policies. COD accepts no responsibility for the ways in which a transfer institution or an employer might interpret a student's use of the forgiveness option or Academic Regulations Committee decision.

Forgiveness Options

  • Forgiveness: "F" grades that are more than five years old.
  • Academic Regulations Committee: "F" grades that are less than five years old.
  • Students meeting the eligibility requirements may apply directly to the Office of Student Records by submitting the Petition for Failing Grades.

Forgiveness Criteria

You can apply for forgiveness of past "F" grades any time after all of the following policy requirements are met:

  1. Only F grades will be considered.
  2. A period of at least 36 months (3 years) of non-enrollment has elapsed since the end of the last term of grades to be forgiven (excluding non-credit classes).
  3. Upon return, a minimum of 12 consecutive semester hours with no grades of ‘D,’ ‘F,’ ‘S,’ ‘I’ or ‘X’ and no more than two ‘W’ grades must be earned at College of DuPage before forgiveness will be considered . In addition, a student must earn the number of credit hours with a grade of "C" or better equal to the number of credit hours of ‘F’ grades to be forgiven. ‘F’ grades for courses below the 1000- level, which are not included in the GPA, will not be forgiven.
  4. A maximum of 25 quarter hours or 18 semester hours of 1000 level or above will be forgiven.
  5. Forgiveness will be granted one time only for each student. Once Forgiveness is granted, it is permanent. Repeating the course will not affect or change the forgiven grade.

Forgiveness Procedure

  1. When the eligibility requirements have been fulfilled and forgiveness granted, the student's cumulative grade point average will be recalculated with the 'F' grades removed from the calculation. However, the 'F' grades will remain on the student's official transcript with a notation indicating that the student has been granted forgiveness.
  2. Financial aid eligibility is determined by the Standards of Progress policy for financial aid recipients. If a student is granted academic forgiveness, eligibility for financial aid is not guaranteed.
  3. Students who re-enter the college under academic forgiveness must follow and adhere to terms of the Catalog, including all academic requirements and policies, of the year of re-entry.

Forgiveness Petition

  1. ARC will only consider 'F' grades issued within the last five years.
  2. Petitions must be made by the student and signed by the student.
  3. A maximum of two petitions to ARC is allowed per student.

Petition for Forgiveness

Contact Information

Office of Student Records
Student Resource Center (SRC), Room 2150

Hours
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

General
Phone: (630) 942-3838
FAX: (630) 942-3693
Prerequisites: (630) 942-2260

Email contacts:
Student Records: recordsoffice@cod.edu
FERPA: FERPA@cod.edu
Grades: gradesdept@cod.edu
Graduation: graduation@cod.edu
Commencement: commencement@cod.edu
Official COD Transcripts: transcripts@cod.edu
Transcript Evaluation: evaluation@cod.edu
Prerequisites: prereq@cod.edu
Verifications: verifications@cod.edu
High School Transcripts: HStranscript@cod.edu

Individuals who need language assistance, call Campus Central at (630) 942-3000 or email campuscentral@cod.edu.