Portland Community College (PCC) acknowledges that some students may not be prepared for success at the time they begin their academic careers. This can leave students with undesirable PCC academic transcripts.

Academic Fresh Start is intended for the student who has been unenrolled from PCC for seven or more years to remove an entire period of poor academic performance at PCC from the credits earned and Grade Point Average (GPA) calculation.  

The student must be aware of the following limitations of this policy:

1. PCC recommends that students first attempt to repair their transcripts by repeating a course for a higher grade as appropriate through the college’s Repeat Policy.
2. Due to federal regulations, the Office of Financial Aid does not acknowledge Academic Fresh Start when calculating eligibility for student aid.
3. Transfer institutions may or may not acknowledge Academic Fresh Start. They may  consider all credits and may calculate the entire student GPA for their purposes.  It is at the discretion of the transfer institution to determine how they will interpret this policy.

The student seeking to apply for Academic Fresh Start policy must meet and understand the following conditions:

1. Students may only use Academic Fresh Start once and only if they have not earned a certificate or degree from PCC. Once approved, the action is non-reversible.
2. The student must have a consecutive seven calendar year break (“stop out”) from PCC.
3. Upon reentry to PCC, and prior to the request for Academic Fresh Start, the student must complete a minimum of twelve credits at PCC, achieving a minimum of 2.5 GPA for this group of credits.
4. All PCC grades and credits prior to the student’s break from PCC are excluded under Academic Fresh Start. Exclusion includes good grades and poor grades.