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Academic Renewal – Undergraduate

About This Policy

Responsible Office
Academic Affairs

The following policy applies to Undergraduate students only.

Academic Renewal, if awarded, provides students who have previously been unsuccessful at Montclair State University with an opportunity to complete their undergraduate degree. If a student’s application for Academic Renewal is accepted, certain failing or D-range grades will be removed from institutional cumulative and major GPA calculations.

Eligibility for Academic Renewal requirements:

  • Students must have stopped out at Montclair a minimum of 5 years prior to readmission.
  • Students who left the University as a result of a disciplinary hearing are not eligible to apply for academic renewal.
  • One of the following must be true:
    • Student’s previous cumulative GPA or major GPA was 1.7 or lower.
    • Student was dismissed from Montclair, attended a county or community college and successfully completed an AA/AS/AFA degree (NJ or other).
    • Student stopped out after 150 credits attempted without completing graduation requirements.

Application:

The application period for Academic Renewal begins the day the student applies for readmission, and ends on December 1 if the student’s first semester back is a Fall term, or May 1 if a Spring term.

To be considered, all applications and appropriate supportive documentation must be submitted by the established deadline. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed by the committee.

Students must submit a statement explaining the reason(s) for their prior academic performance (i.e., the period of time in which they are seeking renewal) and indicate their reason for requesting academic renewal:

  • Academic Growth
  • Personal Growth/Resolution of Extenuating Circumstances
  • Personal Medical Issues – sample documentation: doctor’s notes, hospital statements, etc.
  • Family Medical Issues – sample documentation: doctor’s notes, death certificate, etc.
  • Financial Issues – sample documentation: proof of financial resolution, new job, financial plan, etc.
  • Military Service – sample documentation: enlistment and discharge papers
  • Personal/Family Issues – sample documentation: court papers/legal documentation, police reports, etc.
  • Other

If a student attended another institution after their most recent period of enrollment at Montclair, coursework and grades from the transfer institution(s) will be reviewed and presented to the committee as part of the application.

Students must resolve all outstanding financial obligations to the University prior to application for academic renewal.

Students with outstanding financial, immunization, and other registration holds will not be considered by the committee.

Approval:

By committee of the Provost (to be established). Members include appointed representatives from Undergraduate Education, Dean of Students, Faculty, college/school student success/academic advising administrators, Student Academic Services, and the Office of the Registrar (non-voting).

The committee reserves the right to approve, deny, or defer the application for academic renewal.

The committee may request additional, supportive documentation in support of the application at any time during the review process.

Students indicating extenuating circumstances (medical illness, treatment, death in the family, etc.) will be required to provide appropriate documentation in support of their application.

If granted, and accepted, academic renewal cannot be reversed. All courses approved for renewal will remain on the academic transcript and records, and still count toward Financial Aid requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress. All approved courses will no longer count with regard to cumulative or major GPA, or program completion.

As a committee of the Provost, all decisions made are final and cannot be appealed.

If approved, academic renewal does not forgive financial responsibility for impacted coursework, nor is it a basis for financial reimbursement.

Approval of academic renewal at Montclair State University does not indicate recognition by any other college, university, or other organization.

Conditions of Approval:

If eligible and approval is granted, full-time students must earn a minimum of 12 credits in each of two consecutive terms of enrollment with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.75 (and semester GPA of at least 2.0) to be awarded renewal. Students must not earn any course grade of D+, D, D-, or F during this time period.

If eligible, part-time students must earn a minimum GPA of 2.75 in a minimum of 24 credits within four terms of enrollment. Students must not earn any course grade of D+, D, D-, or F during this time period.

Students, if approved, may be required to select a major other than the one previously enrolled in at the time of expulsion.

The Committee will decide which courses will count for academic renewal.

Eligible Courses: Only courses with earned grades of D+, D, D-, or F within impacted term(s) will be eligible for renewal.

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