Academic Scholarship

Academic Standards

Students are expected to meet the traditional standards of honesty and truthfulness in all aspects of their academic work at UW Tacoma. In particular, all work submitted to an instructor in fulfillment of course assignments, including papers and projects, written and oral examinations, and oral presentations and reports, must be free of plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the creations, ideas or words of someone else without formally acknowledging the author or source through appropriate use of quotation marks, references and the like. Student work in which plagiarism occurs will not be accepted as satisfactory by the instructor and may lead to disciplinary action against the student submitting it. Any student who is uncertain whether their use of the work of others constitutes plagiarism should consult the course instructor for guidance before formally submitting the work involved.

Satisfactory Progress

The university requires students to declare a major by the time they have earned 105 credits. Students are urged to meet with an advisor to determine a major. A registration hold is placed on students who have reached 105 credits and not declared a major. In rare cases, a student who has met with an advisor will be granted a pre-major extension.

Students who have completed 165 or more credits, completed eleven or more academic satisfactory progress quarters and who do not have a graduation application or graduation plan on file will receive a registration hold and must meet with their advisor to start planning for graduation. In order to remove the hold, the student must submit a graduation application or a graduation plan.

The university’s satisfactory progress policy requires that students complete their undergraduate degree within 30 credits beyond the minimum required for the degree. Because most degrees require 180 total transfer and UW credits, students generally must complete their programs by the time they earn 210 credits.

Undergraduates who have completed more than 210 credits will be notified by the end of the third week of the quarter that a block is being placed on their registration due to lack of satisfactory progress. Students are encouraged to meet with their academic advisors to prepare a graduation plan or complete a graduation application.

Low Scholarship

Academic Warning

An undergraduate student whose grade point average falls below 2.00 in their first quarter at the university receives an academic warning. If a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.00 for courses earned in residence at the university is not achieved by the end of the next quarter, they are placed on academic probation.

Probation and Dismissal for Low Scholarship

An undergraduate student is placed on academic probation at the end of any quarter (except for the first quarter at the university, when an academic warning is issued) in which their cumulative grade point average falls below 2.00. Once on probation, the student must attain at least a 2.00 for each succeeding quarter’s work until the cumulative grade point average is raised to a 2.00 or the student is dropped for low scholarship.

Senior in Final Quarter

A senior who has completed the required number of credits for graduation, but whose work in what would normally be their final quarter places them on probation, does not receive a degree until removed from probation. A senior who has completed the required number of credits for graduation, but whose work during the last quarter results in being dropped for low scholarship, does not receive a degree until readmitted and removed from probation.

Reinstatement

An undergraduate student who has been dropped for low scholarship will be readmitted to the university only at the discretion of the pre-major reinstatement committee or if in a major, the student’s academic program. In most cases, a student may be required to sit out one quarter. A student readmitted after being dropped under these rules reenters the university on academic probation. The student’s GPA is the same as when dropped from the university, and the student may not use grades from other colleges or universities to raise their UW grade point average. A readmitted student is dropped if they fails to attain either a 2.00 grade point average for the following quarter’s work or a cumulative UW grade point average of 2.00 at the end of that quarter. The student is removed from probation at the end of the quarter in which a cumulative grade point average of 2.00 or better is reached. The Petition for Reinstatement form is available online through the Office of the Registrar. To be considered, the reinstatement petition must be submitted to an academic advisor three weeks prior to the start of the quarter.

Please note: The University of Washington transcript is comprised of course work and grades from all three campuses. Students who are dropped for low scholarship from one campus and reinstated at another will remain on academic probation until their cumulative grade point average reaches 2.00.