Policies

Amnesty Policy

Policy Purpose

The intent of this policy is to allow admitted students who previously accrued a record with a cumulative GPA below 2.0 to be “forgiven” for their earlier performance, if they meet the stated criteria.

Persons Affected

Faculty, Staff, Students

Policy Statement

If Amnesty is granted, previous Farmingdale grades of F and D will be "E-credited"-i.e., credits will not be counted toward the degree and grades will not be counted in the GPA. Courses in which a grade of C or better were received will be "J-credited"-i.e., credits will be counted toward the major (including General Education requirements) but not toward the GPA. The recognition of course work through Amnesty reflects the posting of courses through the transfer credit process. Students receiving Amnesty will have a notation to this effect on their Farmingdale transcript, and a new cumulative GPA will be calculated for all work beginning with the semester in which the student was admitted. This new GPA will be printed on the official transcript, used for computing the student’s academic standing, and for meeting the minimum 2.0 GPA requirement for graduation. The student will be eligible for all academic honors such as Latin Honors. All previous Farmingdale course work will continue to be listed on the transcript with the original grades received to fully document the student’s relationship with the institution.

A student can apply for Amnesty only once; once approved, the student cannot ask for the Amnesty to be rescinded or modified. For example, once a student has been granted academic Amnesty, they cannot request degree credit for E-credited courses or request that grades from J-credited courses be computed in the GPA.

Procedures

To be eligible for Amnesty:

• The student must first be admitted to a degree program after having met all regular admissions requirements.
• The student must not have taken any coursework at Farmingdale for a minimum of five calendar years.
• The student must not have earned more than 48 credit hours for undergraduate or 15 credit hours for graduate at Farmingdale prior to being admitted.
• If granted Amnesty, the student must meet the minimum number of credits to meet the residency requirement (see College Catalog for complete residency requirement policy) at Farmingdale in order to graduate.
• The student is not eligible to apply for Amnesty until they have completed one full-time semester or 12 hours of credit as an admitted student; in this first full-time semester or 12 hours of credit, the student must have completed every course with a minimum of a C grade.
• Amnesty must be applied for within one year of being admitted.

If the student has met the requirements for eligibility under Amnesty as stated above, the student will file an application with the chair of the Admissions and Academic Standards Committee (AASC) within one year of being admitted to the college. Upon verification of the student’s eligibility under Amnesty, the Chair of AASC will so notify the Registrar.

The Amnesty Policy will not supersede the College’s Admissions Policies, specific Curriculum
Department requirements, or financial aid guidelines.

Definitions

Admitted or Admitted Student – Students returning to Farmingdale after 5 or more years must submit an application for Admission. For the purpose of this policy, admitted refers to students who were accepted after submitting the application for Admission 5 or more years from their last completed semester.

Responsible Office

Office of the Provost

Policy History

Approval Date: September 29, 2020