Repeating Classes | Office of the Registrar | SIU

Repeating Classes

Only a small portion of the courses offered by the University may be taken multiple times in order to receive additional credit hours toward the degree.  For example, the dissertation course (numbered 600) is frequently taken across multiple terms.  Such courses are normally noted in the course listing of the Undergraduate or Graduate catalogs.

Most courses may not be taken multiple times in an attempt to earn additional credit toward the degree.  However, students may be able to repeat such a course in order to improve their grade point average (GPA).  The information below addresses this GPA improvement policy for undergraduate and graduate students.

Please note that courses that are repeated for additional credit, as well as courses that are repeated in order to improve a GPA, are both subject to appropriate tuition and fee charges for those subsequent repeat hours.

Undergraduate Students

An undergraduate student may, for the purpose of raising a grade, enroll in a course for credit more than once.  For students receiving a letter grade of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, or F, the course repetition must occur at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.¹  All grades earned for the initial and all subsequent attempts will be clearly identified and noted on the student transcript.

Effective for courses taken Summer 2013 or later, only the most recent (last) grade will be calculated in the overall GPA and count toward hours earned.²

This policy will be applied to all transferable credit in that only the last grade will be used to calculate grade point average.  Only those courses taken at the same institution are considered repeats under this policy.

Effective Summer 2003 through Spring 2013, the repeat policy requires that all earned grades carrying quality point values are to be considered when computing students' grade point averages, including each earned grade in all repeated courses.³  Individual units and departments may establish a limit to the number of times a course can be repeated.  The student needs to check with the parent department of the course before registering for a repeat course.  Only those courses taken at the same institution are considered repeats under this policy.

Effective Summer 1996 through Spring 2003, only the last grade of the subsequently repeated course will count in the grade point average even if the last grade is an F.²  The courses must be from the same institution.

Prior to Summer 1996, all earned grades carrying quality point values are considered when computing students’ grade point averages, including each earned grade in a repeated course.³  Only those courses taken at the same institution are considered repeats under this policy.

Graduate Students

The letter grades A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, and F are included in computing grade point averages for academic retention.

Effective for courses taken Summer 2018 or later, if a graduate student repeats a course with the permission of the Graduate Dean, only the most recent (last) grade will be counted in the grade point average.²

Prior to Summer 2018, if a graduate student repeats a course with the permission of the Graduate Dean, both grades will be counted in the grade point average.³

¹ Effective for courses taken Summer 2017 or later, "plus/minus" grades as noted on https://registrar.siu.edu/grades/plusminus.php have been part of the normal grading system.  Prior to that term, they were not.

² On the student's transcript as it relates to showing repeated courses, the most recent such course during this time period will have an "I" next to it (indicating that it is included in the GPA calculation and the earned hours calculation), while the last prior such course will have an "E" next to it (indicating that it is excluded from the GPA calculation and excluded from the earned hours calculation).

³ On the student's transcript as it relates to showing repeated courses, the most recent such course during this time period will have an "I" next to it (indicating that it is included in the GPA calculation and the earned hours calculation), while the last prior such course will have an "A" next to it (indicating that it is still included in the GPA calculation but excluded from the earned hours calculation).