Academic Bankruptcy

This is content from the Catalog 2019–2020 back issue. Please visit the current catalog for current information.

Undergraduate students may declare one semester of their academic career at UH Hilo as an academically bankrupt semester. Although the student’s UH Hilo GPA will be recalculated to exclude all of the grades from the bankrupt semester, the grades from that semester will remain on the transcript. A notation that the student has declared academic bankruptcy will appear on the transcript. A declaration of academic bankruptcy must be made prior to graduation.

Students who are interested in declaring academic bankruptcy should take the following into consideration:

1. Courses taken during the semester for which a student declares academic bankruptcy count toward the “3-peat” rule, which limits to three the number of times a student may take a course.
2. If a student received financial aid during the semester for which he or she declares academic bankruptcy, he or she should consult with the Financial Aid Office to determine how declaring academic bankruptcy might impact his or her financial aid eligibility.
3. No courses taken during the semester of academic bankruptcy shall count toward a degree, certificate, or minor.
4. Only one semester may be declared bankrupt during a student’s academic career at UH Hilo.
5. Under no circumstances may less than a full semester’s work be declared bankrupt.

The form to declare academic bankruptcy is available at each of the college deans’ offices, in each of the College of Arts and Science Division Offices and online at the Office of the Registrar’s forms.