Academic Fresh Start

Texas Senate Bill 1321, entitled “Right to an Academic Fresh Start” allows a person who is a resident of Texas to apply for undergraduate admission and not have coursework completed 10 or more years prior to the date of anticipated enrollment included as consideration in the admission decision. This allows undergraduate students to begin a new course of study with a clear academic record.

Note: This is an “all or nothing” option. You are not able to pick and choose which courses to ignore and which courses to count. If you choose the “Academic Fresh Start” option, you will not receive any credit for courses you took 10 or more years ago.  Courses that have been used to obtain a previous degree or certificate may not be able to be cleared with an Academic Fresh Start. 

This means that:

• Courses taken previously cannot be used to fulfill new prerequisite requirements
• Course taken previously cannot be counted towards your new degree
• Courses taken previously will not be counted in your new GPA calculations

The provision does not affect coursework completed between the 10 years prior date and the new enrollment date.

Even if you choose the Academic Fresh Start option, you must still complete the usual admissions process, including providing information on all colleges or universities previously attended and providing official copies of transcripts from all schools you attended. 

Students under the Fresh Start provision must still meet the criteria for the Texas Success Initiative unless they have met one of the exemptions. The Academic Fresh Start Provision does not affect Texas Success Initiative exemptions claimed on the basis of college credit earned prior to September 1989.

An approved Academic Fresh Start only applies to academic records.  Approval does not determine eligibility for federal and/or state funds awarded through the Financial Aid office as your financial aid GPA is not changed by an approved Academic Fresh Start.