FAU College of Nursing — Dismissal & Appeals

Written by Zachary Gaynor, attorney · The Florida Bar, admitted 2016 · court admissions. Reviewed 1 October 2026.

What does a failed course mean at FAU’s College of Nursing?

At Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, a nursing course is only passed with a C+ or higher — a plain C is a failure, which surprises students from almost every other Florida program, where a C passes. One failed course can be repeated once, if there is space. The same course failed twice, or any two nursing courses failed, is dismissal from the major. And the college rewrote its Progression and Retention Policy in August 2026, so the version a student read at orientation may not be the version deciding their case.

The progression rules

The college’s published Progression and Retention Policy (approved March 2015, amended August 13 and 18, 2026) sets the standards. Success in every nursing course means a C+ or better, or an S where courses are graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory. A grade below 77% on a course exam, a cumulative quiz grade, or a cumulative course grade puts the student on a student success plan under the college’s Student Success Initiative — that plan is an early-warning document, and what gets written in it follows the student.

One failure: a C or below (or U) in a nursing course may be repeated one time only, subject to space availability. Space is not promised, and waiting for a seat can add semesters.

Two failures: the same course failed twice, or any two nursing courses failed, is dismissal from the nursing major. There is no committee discretion written into that line.

Withdrawals count against you differently: a pre-licensure student who withdraws from a nursing course — outside the approved exceptional-circumstances process — falls out of sequence and loses the cohort seat, with the financial-aid consequences that follow. Freshman Direct Admit students have their own trap: a student who cannot progress after the first summer term (the third semester of the first year) is dismissed from the BSN program.

Clinical safety is immediate: a faculty member who determines a student poses a significant risk to patient safety can remove the student from the clinical experience on the spot, and a student removed from a clinical course on safety grounds receives an F in the course. That one grade can be the first of the two that end the program — which is why an unsafe-practice finding is worth contesting on the record immediately, not accepted as a bad day.

How dismissal actually happens — and the 10-day response window

Under the college’s Dismissal Policy, the course faculty member refers the student to the Assistant Dean. The student is notified in writing, by FAU e-mail, of the facts and circumstances and of the appeal process, and the program official offers a meeting. The student has 10 academic days from the written notice to respond. After the meeting, the outcome is one of two things: academic probation with a written Plan of Improvement (POI) — whose conditions become the new tripwire, because failing the POI means a dismissal recommendation — or a recommendation for dismissal processed under the university’s own dismissal procedure.

A dismissed student may petition for readmission one time only, through the college’s Admission and Progression Subcommittee. The policy lists what that petition is judged on: the reason for dismissal, the strength of the record, the time since dismissal, space, and the student’s plan to prevent recurrence. A petition that answers those five factors with evidence is a different document from a letter that asks for another chance.

FAU is a public university, and that matters. Florida’s courts have held — in a case brought against FAU’s own Board of Trustees — that a student in good standing has a constitutionally protected due-process interest in continued enrollment, so it cannot be taken away without notice and a real opportunity to be heard. The college’s own written procedure is the floor, and whether FAU followed it — the e-mail dates, the meeting offer, the POI terms — is where an appeal is built.

Where the governing documents are

The BSN Progression and Retention Policy and the Dismissal Policy are published in the college’s Undergraduate Student Handbook on nursing.fau.edu, alongside the appeal procedure. The August 2026 amendments govern current students — verify every deadline against the edition in force for your term.

Other Florida nursing programs

These pages set out the procedure at related programs: UCF College of Nursing, USF College of Nursing, FSU College of Nursing, UF College of Nursing, and all Florida nursing programs. The general framework is at nursing school dismissal.

Common questions

I got a C in a nursing course. I passed, right?

Not at FAU. The Lynn College of Nursing requires a C+ or higher — a C is a failure that uses up your one repeat, assuming space exists to repeat it. If this is your second failed course, the policy calls for dismissal, and your attention should turn to the 10-day response window and the readmission factors now.

What is the Plan of Improvement, and should I just sign it?

The POI is a probation contract: written conditions designed for your situation, where missing any condition becomes a recommendation for dismissal. Read it as the legal document it is. Conditions that are vague, unachievable on the stated timeline, or that ignore an approved accommodation are worth negotiating before signing — afterward, they are the standard you are measured by.

I was removed from clinical for “unsafe practice.” What now?

The removal produces an F, and the F counts toward the two-failure limit. The record of the incident — what was alleged, who observed it, what the rubric says, whether your version was documented — is the whole case. Put your account in writing immediately, while the details are fresh, and before responding to any referral.

I missed the 10 academic days to respond. Is it over?

Do not assume so. The dismissal recommendation still runs through the university’s process, the readmission petition still exists, and FAU, as a public university, still owes due process on the way to any final action. But every remaining step gets harder — move now.

Does the one-time readmission petition really mean one time?

Yes — the policy allows a dismissed student to petition the Admission and Progression Subcommittee once. That is a reason to treat the petition as the main event: complete record, documented changes, and a prevention plan specific enough to be believed, not a form filled in the week it is due.