American college students can have two different GPAs (grade point averages) on their transcript: the Cumulative GPA, which includes includes all grades for all courses taken, and the Retention/Graduation GPA, which excludes grades for courses that have been repeated or reprieved. That is to say, if a course has been repeated, only the grade for the retake is included in the Retention/Graduation GPA, though both grades (first and second attempts) are included in the Cumulative GPA. "Reprieved", at least in some places, means that a student may petition for grades in one or two semesters to be excluded. If the petition or "reprieve" is granted, the relevant grades are again excluded from Retention/Graduation, though included in Cumulative.

So really the Retention/Graduation GPA has that name because it takes into account only the grades that are "retained" for "graduation" purposes.

"Cum", below this, must of course mean "Cumulative".

"RETENTION/GRADUATION GPA — grade point average computed excluding those courses repeated or reprieved, in accordance with the academic forgiveness policy, as well as remedial and PE activity courses and used to determine a student’s eligibility to enroll in classes and to graduate. "
http://catalog.ou.edu/current/General_Info_Glossary.htm

"Ret/Graduation GPA - All courses in which a student has
a recorded grade will be counted in the calculation of the gradepoint average for retention purposes excluding any courses
repeated or forgiven as detailed in the State Regents' Grading
Policy and excluding remedial/developmental (pre-college)
courses. Beginning in 1994, the retention GPA also excludes
physical education activity courses.
Cumulative GPA - Includes all attempted regularly
graded course work."
http://ranger3.nwosu.edu/catalog/04_05/section_IV_V_04_05.pd...

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Note added at 5 hrs (2013-07-24 07:48:46 GMT)
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What is confusing at first is that universities also use the word "retention" in quite a different sense: retention of students, which is more or less equivalent to the "drop-out rate". That's not the sense here; it refers, as I say, to retention of grades.

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Note added at 5 hrs (2013-07-24 08:19:08 GMT)
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I was wondering about how you'd say this in Spanish. Cumulative vs. Retention is almost like "bruto" / "neto" (but I don't think you can call it that!). It may need an explanatory note.

In the Dominican Republic the cumulative GPA is called the "índice académico acumulado", but I don't know what term (if any) they use for the retention/graduation GPA. And anyway, the Dominican Republic is a long way from Argentina...

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Note added at 6 hrs (2013-07-24 08:50:01 GMT)
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This is what makes educational translation so difficult: the terminology and concepts vary so much from one country to another. And not just between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking countries: the US and UK systems are very different from each other. And even within the UK, Scotland has its own system and terms. It's a real headache!

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Note added at 1 day17 hrs (2013-07-25 20:14:57 GMT) Post-grading
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That's a good solution: the best you can do with it, I think. Thanks for letting me know; I was curious! Best wishes.