University's 'three-peat' rule often not enforced because of exceptions
Third times aren't the charm at Central Michigan University because of a little-known policy limiting the number of times a student can take a course.
The three-peat rule, which began in 2003, states a student can only attempt to take a course three times, including withdrawals. On the fourth time, they are not allowed to register.
Registrar Karen Hutslar said the purpose of the rule was to help raise academic standards at the university.
However, the rule is often not enforced.
Students who have attempted a course three times can appeal to the department chair through which the course is offered. If the chairperson approves their request, the student will be allowed to retake the course.
Last year, 114 exceptions were made — a decrease from the 2009-10 school year when 128 students received exceptions.
The registrar has no record of how many students' appeals were denied because it is handled by each of the department chairs. There are approximately 40 chairs at CMU.
"I assume the number (denied) is low because the university wants to work with students, but we don’t want them to keep retaking classes that they are having a lot of difficultly with,” Hutslar said.
The policy was added to the student handbook and appears in the bulletin, but many students are unaware of the policy until they try to register for the class a fourth time.
"The policy doesn’t make sense," said Warren sophomore Kenneth Cordry. "I should be able to honestly attempt to take a class as many times as I would like and the fact that withdrawals are included in your attempts makes the likelihood of the policy hurting students three times worse"
