Academic Standing

Review for Academic Standing

Each student will be reviewed for academic standing at the end of each term.

Full Academic Standing To maintain full academic standing, a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 for master’s degree students, and a 3.25 for education specialist degree and educational doctorate students is required. If less than the minimum is attained, the student will be placed on probationary academic standing.

Probationary Academic Standing A student on probationary academic standing who attains the minimum cumulative grade point average will be removed from probationary status and accorded full academic standing. A student on probationary academic standing who fails to attain the minimum cumulative grade point average will be dropped from the university. Students with probationary academic standing cannot graduate from the program or university. The student must attain the minimum cumulative grade point average required by the Graduate School.

Dropped A student dropped from the university is not eligible to enroll for graduate credit unless readmitted to a graduate program.

Pass/Fail

Graduate students are not allowed to use the pass/fail system for any courses to be used to meet program requirements or for any courses identified as deficiencies at admission.

Incomplete - I

The grade “Incomplete” (I) may be given for failure to complete course work due to absence over which the student had no control. Incompletes not cleared within one year of the date of assignment will be changed to an “F.” To receive credit after that time, the student must re-register for the course.

In Progress - IP

The grade “In Progress” (IP) may be given for research paper credits in cases where the student has been working on the project, but requires more time to complete it. If the IP grade is not cleared within one year of assignment, the student must re-register for the course.

Grade Point Average

All course work taken for graduate credit is counted in the calculation of the grade point average.

To maintain full academic standing, a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 for master’s degree students and 3.25 for Ed.S. and Ed.D. students, is required. If less than the minimum is attained, the student will be placed on probationary academic standing.

Effective Fall 2019, when a graduate course is repeated, the highest grade is used when computing the grade point average. All grades remain on the transcript.

A student on probationary academic standing who attains the minimum cumulative grade point average will be awarded full academic standing. A student on probationary academic standing who fails to attain the minimum cumulative grade point average will be dropped from the university.

A student dropped from the university is not eligible to enroll for graduate credit unless they reapply for admission, pay the application fee (if applicable) and are readmitted by approval of the Graduate School Exceptions Committee.

Graduate Academic Forgiveness

Academic forgiveness means that graduate-level grades which were earned during a prior enrollment period at the University of Wisconsin-Stout will not be used in the computation of a student’s graduate cumulative grade point average. However, such grades will continue to appear on the student’s official transcript. A returning student is eligible for academic forgiveness when all the following criteria are met:

• At least one continuous year has elapsed since the end of the last term of graduate enrollment at UW-Stout or any other institution of higher learning (Exception: Courses that must be completed as a precondition for re-entry.)
• The student has not earned a graduate degree
• The cumulative grade point average for graduate enrollment earned at UW-Stout was below 2.0 at the time of re-entry.
• The student attains a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA for the first nine credit hours of graduate coursework upon returning to UW-Stout.
• Minimum course grades are met in accordance with applicable program’s requirements.
• Within the next regular (fall or spring) academic semester after the completion of the first (upon return) nine graduate credit hours, the student submits a request for academic forgiveness to the applicable program director.

Administrative Considerations:

• The program director should assist a student to determine whether repeating coursework or seeking academic forgiveness is the preferred alternative.
• The student’s academic forgiveness request must be approved by the student’s program director, the dean of the college, and the associate vice chancellor. If approved, the associate vice chancellor will forward a memo to the registrar who will record academic forgiveness on the student’s transcript.
• The student would have all grades for the specified period excluded from calculations of graduate grade point average.
• The student’s new cumulative grade point average will be based only on the grade points earned after re-entry to UW-Stout.
• All course work and grades would remain on the student’s UW-Stout transcript. These grades may be used to satisfy degree requirements when academic forgiveness is granted. Program requirements must be followed when a minimum course grade is specified.
• A student may be granted graduate-level academic forgiveness only once.