UWF School of Nursing — Dismissal & Appeals

Written by Zachary Gaynor, attorney · The Florida Bar, admitted 2016 · court admissions. Reviewed 2 October 2026.

When is a UWF nursing student dismissed?

At the University of West Florida’s School of Nursing (Usha Kundu, MD College of Health), one failed nursing course does not just mean a repeat — it means the student is out of sequence and must apply for readmission, which the Traditional BSN Program Handbook 2025–2026 says is not guaranteed. A second failure — whether a second course, the repeat of the first, or a withdrawal, which counts the same as a grade below C — typically ends the program. The handbook also gives the faculty and the School of Nursing Director a broad reserved right to dismiss a student whose “health, conduct, academic dishonesty, professional conduct, general attitude, clinical performance, or scholastic standing” makes retention inadvisable.

The progression rules

• C (75 percent) in every nursing course, S in every clinical. The handbook says there is no rounding in the Traditional BSN track, so 74.9 is not a C.
• One failure, then readmission. A student may have only one nursing grade below C, or one Unsatisfactory clinical, and remain eligible for readmission. Failed students are ranked for readmission by their final percentage grade, and slots depend on space, clinical placements, and faculty.
• One repeat, pass or out. A readmitted student may repeat a nursing course once and must pass on the second attempt. Repeating a clinical course means repeating the paired theory course too.
• Withdrawals count as failures. Withdrawing from a nursing course is treated the same as a grade below C and requires a readmission application; two or more withdrawals may bar readmission entirely.
• Readmission GPA. A returning student needs at least a 2.5 overall GPA before registering for the re-entry semester, and faculty may require validation testing of earlier coursework.
• The direct-entry MSN runs hotter. UWF’s other prelicensure track requires a B (83 percent) in every nursing course under the same one-failure, one-repeat architecture.

Tests that gate graduation

Medication calculation. Select courses require math proficiency with two attempts; a student who does not reach proficiency “will not progress in the course.” The passing score lives in the course syllabus, so get the syllabus for your section.

ATI exit exam. Every student must pass an ATI program exit exam during NUR 4257 “to qualify for graduation and RN licensing exam.” After a first miss on the Comprehensive Predictor, the handbook requires documented remediation — at least 200 NCLEX-style review questions submitted to the course coordinator — and a ten-day wait before the second attempt. An exit-exam problem in the final semester is therefore a graduation problem, not just a test problem.

Drug screens, background checks, and arrests

Drug screening is required before any clinical course, sometimes on 24 hours’ notice or less. A first positive brings a meeting with the School of Nursing Director and the option of a self-paid retest within 24 hours at a verifiable lab; a negative retest means continuing under random self-paid screens for the rest of the program. A second positive is a permanent dismissal — the handbook says the student is not eligible for continuation or readmission at any time — and refusing, tampering, or switching a sample blocks progression outright. Drug-screen dismissals are decided by the Nursing Advisory Panel (the College of Health Dean, the School of Nursing Director, the BSN Program Director, the Dean of Student Affairs, and the student’s clinical faculty), and the handbook declares the Panel’s decisions final. Background checks run under chapter 435 of the Florida Statutes, and any change in criminal status must be disclosed within three business days — the stated penalty for staying silent is dismissal.

The appeal

The School of Nursing Grievance Procedure is a three-step ladder on ten-calendar-day clocks: a written grievance to the School of Nursing Director within ten calendar days of the issue, a written appeal to the Assistant Dean of the Usha Kundu, MD College of Health within ten calendar days of the Director’s decision, and a final appeal to the appropriate Vice President within ten calendar days after that, on three grounds only — a procedural violation, new information that was previously unavailable, or a decision the information does not support. Semester and spring breaks do not count against the clock. Grade appeals themselves run under university policy AC-16.03, which the catalog says must be filed within six months of the semester’s close.

UWF is a public university, so constitutional due-process protections sit alongside the handbook’s own rules. Note the tension inside the documents: the handbook calls Nursing Advisory Panel decisions “final” while the university publishes a grievance ladder that ends with a Vice President — when two routes exist, use the one with the later deadline and say in writing that you are preserving both.

Readmission

Readmission after a failure or withdrawal is an application, not a right: the form goes to the School of Nursing Admissions Coordinator, candidates are ranked by final percentage grade, and the program considers space, standing, clinical capacity, and faculty availability. That makes the quality of the readmission file — documentation of what went wrong and what changed — the real battleground after a first failure.

Where the governing documents are

The Traditional BSN Program Handbook 2025–2026, the DEMSN Prelicensure Student Handbook 2025–2026, and the UWF Catalog’s Academic Standing and Appeals pages. Ask for the edition issued to your cohort.

The federal money on the line at UWF

University of West Florida students and families took on $53.8 million in federal Direct Loans in the 2025–26 award year — 2,323 graduate students borrowed $33.6 million of it unsubsidized.

Every dollar of it rides on academic standing. A dismissal, a failed Satisfactory Academic Progress evaluation, or a mid-term withdrawal sets off federal rules that decide whether aid continues, whether money already disbursed has to go back, and — under the borrowing caps in effect since July 1, 2026 — whether a student who leaves can still finance a return. For health-professional students the timing rules bite hardest: remediation terms, leaves, and repeated courses all feed the federal pace-of-completion math. The academic fight and the financial aid fight are the same fight, and the windows are short. How those rules work: SAP appeals and academic dismissal.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Data Center, Direct Loan volume by school, award year 2025–26 (cumulative through June 30, 2026). University-wide federal Direct Loan totals.

Other Florida nursing programs

These pages set out related procedures: the Florida nursing programs overview, the UF College of Nursing, the FSU College of Nursing, and Florida nursing NCLEX pass rates.

Common questions

Does a 74.9 pass a nursing course at UWF?

No. Nursing courses need a C, defined as 75 percent, and the handbook says there is no rounding in the Traditional BSN track.

If I fail one nursing course, am I out of the program?

Not automatically — but you are out of sequence and must apply for readmission, which is not guaranteed. If readmitted, you may repeat the course once and must pass the second attempt.

Does withdrawing from a nursing course protect me?

No. The handbook treats a withdrawal the same as a grade below C, and two or more withdrawals may make you ineligible for readmission.

How long do I have to file a grievance?

Ten calendar days to the School of Nursing Director, ten more to the College of Health Assistant Dean, and ten more to the Vice President, whose decision is the university’s final word. Breaks between semesters do not count.

What happens after a positive drug screen?

A first positive brings a meeting with the Director and an optional self-paid retest within 24 hours; a second positive is a permanent dismissal with no readmission. Refusing or tampering with a screen stops your progression by itself.