TO:	Faculty Senate
FROM:	Richard M. Kerper, Chairperson, Academic Policies Committee
RE:	Revision of Course Repeat Policy
DATE:	December 2, 2003

CURRENT POLICY: Section 3: Undergraduate Academic Policies - Course Policies: Course Repeats

1. A student has the privilege of repeating at Millersville courses for which he/she had previously received a grade at Millersville. Ordinarily this applies only to courses in which grades of D, F, WP, WF, I. Z or U have been received. A student could, with adviser approval, elect to repeat courses in which an earlier grade of B or C was earned.

2. When a student repeats at Millersville a course in which he/she had previously earned a grade, the new grade, credit and quality points will replace the previously earned grade in the computation of the quality point average. Although not included in the computation of credits or quality point average, the earlier grade shall remain on the student's record.

3. Students who have received transfer credit for an equivalent course at Millersville, but who take that course at Millersville will forfeit the transfer credit.

   NOTE: Although Faculty Senate previously had approved a policy to limit the number of times a student could repeat a class, implementation issues prevented enforcement of the policy and its inclusion in the Governance Manual.

PROPOSED POLICY

A student, in consultation with the adviser, may repeat a course to improve the GPA, to meet minimum competency requirements, or to satisfy graduation requirements. Students only need to repeat a failed course if it is specifically required for graduation. Students may repeat courses for which they have received a grade of C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F, W, Z or U.

Courses failed at Millersville must be repeated at Millersville in order to earn course credit and credit toward graduation. Students may not transfer credit for any course taken at another institution that is the equivalent of a course previously taken at Millersville; this policy applies whether the course was passed or failed at MU. Students may repeat courses at Millersville for which they have received transfer credit, but they will forfeit the transfer credit.

Once the course is repeated, the new grade, credits, and grade point value replace those earned previously in both the term and cumulative GPA. The earlier grade remains on the student's record even though it is no longer included in the computation of credits or cumulative GPA. In consultation with the adviser, students who find it necessary to repeat a course will be informed of and expected to use support services available to them through the Office of Learning Services.

An undergraduate student may not take an undergraduate course of record more than three times. A course of record is defined as a course in which a student receives a grade of A, B, C, D, (including + and -) F, U, Z or W. The academic department offering a course may drop a student from a course if the student attempts to take a course more than three times.

RATIONALE:

The proposed policy has been developed to provide students, experiencing academic difficulty in a course taken previously, with ongoing support before denying them the opportunity to take a course for the fourth time. The present policy is punitive without providing students with the support that could foster success.

IMPLEMENTATION:

1. Of the 5661 currently enrolled students, 44 students have repeated at least one course 4 or more times. Only 6 students are currently enrolled in a course that is being repeated 4 or more times; the other 38 repeated courses in past terms.

   There were 315 students who repeated a course 3 or more times, including W grades. Of these, 72 are currently repeating a course in fall 2003; the rest (243) repeated courses in past terms. If the W grades are excluded from the tally (per current repeat policy), a total of 228 students (55 in fall 2003, 173 previously) repeated a course 3 or more times.

   The following table shows that most repeats occur in the English and Mathematics departments.

   Courses repeated 4 or more times, including W grades
   (for undergraduates enrolled Fall 2003

   Course	4X	5X	6X	7X	Total
   BIOL 100	1				1
   BIOL 263	1				1
   CHEM 111	1				1
   CHEM 112	1				1
   CHEM 232	1			1	2
   COMM 451	1				1
   CSCI 140	1				1
   CSCI 362	2				2
   ENGL 010	4		1		5
   ENGL 110	3	1	1		5
   ENGL 311	1				1
   MATH 090		1			1
   MATH 101	3	1			4
   MATH 104	2	1			3
   MATH 130	2				2
   MATH 151	1		1		2
   MATH 160	1				1
   MATH 161		1		1	2
   MATH 162	2	1	1		4
   MUSI 100	1				1
   MUSI 103		1			1
   MUSI 263	1				1
   SOCY 101	1				1
   Total	31	7	4	2	44

2. Reports on students repeating courses should be sent automatically to the English and Mathematics departments as well as other departments that have numerous repeats in any semester.

3. The Office of Learning Services should send a letter to all students repeating a course. The letter should offer students academic support, suggest talking with the professor and the adviser, and inform students about the limit on repeats in a course. Advisers should receive a copy of all student notifications.

4. In counting repeats, the following grades should be excluded: X, P, S, I.

5. In counting repeats, transfer courses should be included.

6. Banner is not capable of denying a student's registration to repeat a course.