The California State University Board of Trustees has approved a new systemwide policy limiting the number of units that undergraduates may withdraw and repeat, effective this semester.

Executive Order 1037 allows students only 18 units of course withdrawals and 28 units of course repeats over their entire undergraduate careers.

The Fresno State policy permits courses to be dropped in the first four weeks of the semester, Aug. 24 through Sept. 21, without appearing on a student̢۪s transcripts. In the first four weeks, a dropped course will not count against the allotted 18 withdrawal units.

This semester, the period for serious and compelling drops starts on Sept. 22, and continues through Nov. 17. Any courses dropped during this period will count against the allotted 18 units, and the student will receive a withdrawal (W) for that course.

From Nov. 18 until Dec. 9, which is the last day of instruction, is what the executive order refers to as the “final 20 percent.â€Â Classes withdrawn during this time period will not count against the allotted 18 units. However, these withdrawals must be due to circumstances out of the student’s control.

“There are costs associated with dropping classes,â€Â said dean of undergraduate studies Dennis Nef. Nef also said the withdrawal policy is meant to facilitate graduation.

The 28 units designated for course repetition include 16 for grade forgiveness, and 12 for grade averaging, according to the order. Grade substitution is the language used by Fresno State, while grade forgiveness is the language used in the order, but both have the same meaning.

Courses can only be repeated if they resulted in a grade of D or F. Students have never been held to this rule before, said Registrar Tina Beddall.

The 16 units for grade forgiveness will not remove the D or F from a student̢۪s transcripts, but it will substitute the new grade for the old one when calculating grade-point average.

The other 12 units for grade averaging allow the new grade and the old grade to be averaged when calculating a student̢۪s GPA.

Nef said that the students affected will be the small number of students that account for the majority of repeated courses.

Fresno State has decided not to punish students for past semesters.

“We have chosen to let our students start at zero,â€Â Beddall said.

However, the policy is in effect this semester.

Beddall said that Fresno State plans to put detailed information about the new policy on the admissions and records Web site. She said they also plan to keep track of the units for students on the student center section of the Web site, as well as warn and remind students that are registering.

“It’s not quite there yet. We’re just doing a lot of testing,â€Â Beddall said.