UM Implements New Grade Forgiveness Policy

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Ole Miss has made some big changes to their grade forgiveness policy, according to Associate Registrar Denise Knighton.

“The policy has been around for several years,” Knighton said in an interview on Tuesday. “The council just approved in May that students can now have up to four forgivenesses, or a total of 12 credit hours.”

The original policy allowed for students to retake up to two courses. While the original grades would still be recorded on a student’s transcript, if they were to repeat the course, only the grade from the second attempt at the course would be reflected in the student’s overall GPA.

“In the old policy, there were only two courses that could be forgiven and those courses also had to be a D or an F,” Knighton said. “Now you can have a C minus, a D or an F. After you’ve taken the course a second time, you can invoke the forgiveness policy.”

While many students are happy with the new policy, some believe that being able to replace four separate courses could be a bit excessive.

“Part of me is concerned that this will allow students to make higher GPA’s while wasting time and money at a time when college already seems to be getting easier yet more expensive,” philosophy major Jason Wilson said. “I feel like the old policy was sufficient, but I can also see circumstances in which this might be helpful for those times when different unavoidable life events disrupt a student’s performance.”

While some are on the fence regarding the new changes, Knighton believes it to be a good thing that students will be able to further increase their overall GPA, if they so desire.

“I think this is a good idea,” Knighton said. “It’ll help students who may be on a borderline. You have to have a 2.0 to graduate, and perhaps some students are right there at a 1.9. “

“Before this was ever passed, there was a committee that looked at the other SEC schools, and I want to say we were one of a few that didn’t offer four,” Knighton added.

“Some schools offer unlimited chances in their forgiveness policy.” –– Jared Senseman, senior journalism major, Meek School of Journalism and New Media

Email Jared Senseman at jrsensem@go.olemiss.edu