Repeated Courses

Students may only receive Federal financial aid funding for one repeat of a previously passed course. There is an exception for courses that require repeats (see examples below). Students taking a required repeat of a course should work with the EMS to ensure those credits are counted appropriately for financial aid eligibility. Please note that students may need to provide documentation if they would like to repeat a course previously passed to improve their overall GPA.

Examples of repeated coursework that may, or may not, count for financial aid eligibility:

• Allowable: Repeated coursework may be included if the student received an unsatisfactory or failing grade. A student is only allowed to repeat the same course 3 times per university policy; however, the number of repeated courses is not determined for financial aid as long as Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards are met.
• Allowable: Repeated coursework may be included if a student needs to meet an academic standard for a particular previously passed course, such as a minimum grade (e.g., the student received a D in a course which requires a minimum grade of C).
• Allowable: The student is enrolled in 15 credits that include 3 credits repeating a previously passed course. The student’s financial aid eligibility is not impacted by the repeat because the student is enrolled in a minimum of credits that are not repeated.
• Not Allowable: Student receives a D in a course which does not have a minimum grade requirement for the major and decides to repeat the course in order to improve GPA. The student may repeat this passed course one time, but if the student wants to repeat it a second time, the second repeat will not count for financial aid eligibility. In this example, the student is enrolled in 12 credits, including the three credit second repeat, so only nine credits will count for financial aid eligibility.

All repeated courses affect financial aid SAP calculations. A repeated course, along with the original attempt, must be counted as attempted credits.

When a student repeats a course, which may not be repeated for credit, only the highest grade earned in the course is used for the degree audit in determining the GPA. The grades for all courses taken in residence at ACU will remain on the student’s permanent record. The Incomplete (I), No Grade (G), Audit (AU), and Withdrawal (W) grades are not to be used as a substitute for a failing grade