The Columbia campus Faculty Senate approved unanimously at its meeting May 2 a course grade forgiveness policy that goes into effect this fall.

The policy will allow every "fully-admitted, degree-seeking undergraduate earning a 'D+,' 'D,' 'F,' or 'WF' in a USC course" to take up to two undergraduate courses for a second time for the purpose of grade forgiveness. Both the first and second grades will appear on the student's permanent record, but only the second grade will be used to compute the cumulative GPA. (See full policy at right.)

The grade forgiveness policy will be included in the 2007-08 Undergraduate Bulletin and will be effective at all campuses.

The Faculty Senate agreed the University should pursue a policy of grade forgiveness at the recommendation of the Committee on Scholastic Standards and Petitions at its meeting Feb. 7. All campuses had to ratify the policy before it could become official.

At the Spring General Faculty Meeting, which preceded the Faculty Senate meeting, President Sorensen noted the increasing attractiveness of the University of South Carolina to students both inside and outside of the state. The University expects to enroll 3,500 freshmen in the fall, having received 14,900 applications or 4.2 applications for every available freshman opening.

"That's by far the highest number of applicants in the history of the University," Sorensen said.

The University also has become more diligent in admitting freshmen in the spring semester after other students have graduated in December, the president said. "We have found that we can accommodate students coming in as entering freshmen in January. So, we've offered 1,500 places for January first-time freshmen."

The University also is experiencing an increasing number of students who are South Carolinians. From fall 2002 to fall 2006, the University had an increase of 2,005 students from South Carolina. "The number of South Carolinians grew dramatically," Sorensen said.

The Honors College also has experienced an increase in the number of applicants. The college had just over 1,200 applications last year for 310 openings. This year, the college has had more than 1,600 applications for the same number of seats, an increase of more than 30 percent.

The School of Law received 2,019 applications this spring for 220 openings next fall. "That's the highest number of applications in the history of the institutions, a ratio of 9.2 applicants for every opening," Sorensen said.

The School of Medicine also had its highest number of applications ever--1,940 for 85 openings or a ratio of 23 applicants for every opening.

Ninety percent of the students in the law and medical schools are South Carolinians, and 100 percent of the admissions to the medical school are either native South Carolinians or legacy students.

"The increasing phenomenon is that we are simultaneously increasing the standards of the students coming into the University in all aspects of undergraduate programs while the interest in these programs is rising dramatically," Sorensen said. "That's immensely gratifying."

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