A student may attempt to improve their grade by repeating a course for which they received a C- or lower. A higher grade will replace the earlier grade. The lower grade will be eliminated from GPA calculations, credit hours attempted and earned will remain the same, and the higher grade earned at Cottey will be used to calculate a cumulative GPA.
A student may petition the department coordinator to repeat a course previously completed with a grade of ‘C’ or better. Rationale may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Course taken long ago enough that much has been forgotten.
- Student felt they didn’t learn enough previously.
- The department coordinator may grant the student permission to repeat the course.
If the course is repeated at another college or university, and a grade of C or better is earned, the repetition is handled as if it were a credit transfer. Credit hours earned for the course will transfer to Cottey, but the grade will not. Even though the grade earned elsewhere does not replace the Cottey grade, a repetition elsewhere will nevertheless improve a student’s cumulative GPA, because both the original C- or lower Cottey grade and the credit hours attempted at Cottey will be ignored in GPA calculations.
A student may have taken a course previously at a different school for which the credit hours are less than those earned by the same Cottey College course. The student may petition the department coordinator for requirement credit. The department coordinator should then provide an opportunity for the student to demonstrate competency required in the Cottey course. If competency is demonstrated, the transferred course will fulfill degree requirements that would be met by the Cottey course. If competency is not demonstrated, the student will have the opportunity to take the Cottey course for credit.
Regardless of whether a student failed or passed (with a low grade) in a previous attempt, they can get a better grade and improve their GPA by repeating a course, but “passed” courses count toward graduation only once. Students who repeat and pass a course they have failed will then receive credit for that course, but they do not earn any additional credit hours by repeating courses they have passed before. Only one repetition of a course may be included in the student’s enrollment status for federal financial aid.
A student may not take for credit a course that is a prerequisite for a course already completed satisfactorily. Exceptions will be granted only by permission from the department’s coordinator.