Repeating a Course & Grading for Repeated Courses

Upon the recommendation of the Academic Advising Council and the Graduate Professional Programs Task Force, the Office of the Registrar suggested updates to the availability and application of the Grade Replacement Opportunity (GRO) and course repeat policy. These changes simplify access to repeating a course, ensure Grade Point Average (GPA) calculation better represents academic progress, and provide additional academic flexibility for undergraduate and graduate degree students, while codifying policy for certain existing practices. 

The updated policy, Repeating a Course & Grading for Repeated Courses, was approved by the Undergraduate Council, Graduate Council, Undergraduate College Academic Administrators Council, Graduate College Academic Administrators Council, Faculty Senate, and the Provost during the spring of 2025. Amendments to the policy include:  

University-wide Policy — all students in all academic offerings 
To support student persistence, encourage academic accountability, and provide more flexibility for students working to improve their academic performance, the following changes have been implemented: 

• Complete Withdrawals (WC) count as course attempts. 
• The total number of times a course can be taken increases from two to three overall attempts.

Undergraduate Students in Undergraduate Courses
The updated policy removes barriers to graduation and ensures students are not penalized for being unaware of procedural steps. Grade replacement is now standard for repeated courses rather than an opportunity that is limited. The automatic use of the highest grade received protects student GPAs and better reflects academic progress. Updates to the policy include: 

• The highest graded attempt, instead of the most recent, is used for the GPA calculation. 
• Grade replacement is automatic for repeats of regular (not repeatable for credit) courses with original grades of C, D, or E. 
• The limit on the number of undergraduate grade replacement credits allowed is removed. 
• In courses designated as "repeatable for credit," grade replacement is automatic if the original grade was E. If the original grade was C or D in a "repeatable for credit" course, grade replacement is available by student request. Total attempts are limited by individual course setup and program requirements. 

Graduate and Professional Degree Students 
To support graduate and professional students, the policy now allows a limited number of Grade Replacement Opportunities, offering students greater flexibility to maintain satisfactory academic standing. The grade from the GRO attempt will replace the previous grade even if it is lower. Both the original grade and the grade from the repeated attempt will remain on the academic record and calculate into the cumulative GPA. Additional updates to the policy include: 

• Students in graduate programs may use the Grade Replacement Opportunity (GRO) for one course (with program approval) during their time as a graduate student. 
• The current practice of allowing up to three program-approved GROs for Juris Doctorate (JD) students is now codified in the policy. 

Implementation Details 
The amended Repeating a Course & Grade Replacement policy will be effective for courses taken at the University of Arizona in Fall 2025 and beyond. 

Graduate students have the option to use the Grade Replacement Opportunity (GRO) beginning in fall 2025. 

Undergraduate students who repeat a regular course in Fall 2025 will have the highest grade earned in the course used in their GPA calculation regardless of when the course was originally taken. 

Undergraduate students who repeated a course as part of the Grade Replacement Opportunity (GRO) policy in Summer 2025 or earlier will continue to follow the previous Repeating a Course & Grade Replacement policy. GPAs for previous GROs or courses repeated prior to Fall 2025 will not be recalculated. 

The full policy will be listed here when the 2025-2026 University Catalog is published on 5/19/2025. Until that time the updated policy text can be viewed here. 

Questions about these updates should be directed to the Office of the Registrar at catalog@arizona.edu.