Academic Bankruptcy for Undergraduates

To allow students an opportunity to improve their academic record and therefore improve their ability to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from UNL.


Academic bankruptcy removes the grade point factors of a semester taken at University of Nebraska-Lincoln from a student's cumulative grade point average, but the course(s) and grades(s) remain on the student's academic record. The courses so approved are marked "Academic Bankruptcy". Any repeated courses from the bankrupt semester will have the previous course attempt added back into the GPA calculation.

To fulfill the academic bankruptcy requirements, the student must do one of the following:

  1. Complete fifteen simultaneous or sequential semester hours with at least a 3.0 grade point average, or
  2. Complete thirty simultaneous or sequential semester hours with at least a 2.5 grade point average.

The hours may be from UNL, UNMC, UNO, or UNK and must be taken after the semester(s) the student wishes to remove but before receiving a baccalaureate degree from the University of Nebraska. If any hours are used from a given semester/term to meet the fifteen or thirty-hour requirement, all other hours and factors in the same semester must be used. All "incomplete" or "no report" grades within a term whose grade factors are used for bankruptcy must be resolved before the term can be used for bankruptcy purposes. Courses taken at UNO, UNK or UNMC may be used in the qualifying GPA calculation, but you must be a degree seeking student at the University of Nebraska to qualify for Academic Bankruptcy.

There is a limit of two semesters/terms that may be academically bankrupted. The student must:

  1. Discuss the bankrupting of the semester(s) with his or her academic advisor.
  2. Obtain an Academic Bankruptcy Form at Husker Hub, 102 Canfield Administration Building or the Office of the University Registrar, registrar@unl.edu.
  3. Fill out the form and take it to their advisor. If the advisor approves, the advisor should sign the Academic Bankruptcy Form.
  4. The signed form must be returned to the Office of the University Registrar, 002 Canfield Administration Building (0416), registrar@unl.edu.

        Office of the University Registrar may request an interview with the student before authorizing the bankrupting of the semester(s). 

        In order to declare a semester bankrupt, certain conditions must be understood:

        1. All courses taken during the semester are bankrupt. This includes credit hours and grades.
        2. The bankrupt semester is removed from consideration for GPA purposes and the bankrupt credit cannot be used for prerequisite or degree requirements. The semester listing of courses and grades remains evident on the academic record, but the classes are marked "Academic Bankruptcy". The academic record is used to issue transcripts.
        3. Office of the University Registrar determines whether or not the student has met the previously mentioned requirements. If the judgment involves more than a clerical task, the matter will be referred to the Academic Senate Grading and Examinations Committee for a decision.Independent study by correspondence courses are not included in computing the qualifying GPA.
        4. Since "I", "N", "P", "W", and "NR" grades do not have numerical equivalents, they may not be used to meet bankruptcy requirements.
        5. If the semester that is bankrupt was covered by veteran’s benefits, the student will be required to reimburse the VA for benefits previously received.
        6. Academic bankruptcy does not apply to graduate students or to law students since the University does not maintain grade averages for them.
        7. The request for academic bankruptcy must be submitted prior to receiving a baccalaureate degree from the University of Nebraska.