Grading Policy
Grades, Quality Points and Grading Policy
Grades. This policy recognizes the use of grades as a measure of academic standing. A grade will be awarded for a course at the end of each term by the instructor of record to indicate a student’s academic achievement in a credit-bearing course. The university uses a variety of grading systems appropriate to the pedagogy of the course. All grades are due at the end of each term. All grades, including non-letter grades and grades associated with non-satisfactory course completion, such as W and NC, are transcripted and remain as part of the official record.
| Grade | Standard | Quality Points for Each Semester Hour |
|---|---|---|
| A | Achievement of outstanding quality | 4.00 |
| A- | Achievement of slightly less than outstanding quality | 3.67 |
| B+ | Achievement of slightly better than high quality | 3.33 |
| B | Achievement of high quality | 3.00 |
| B- | Achievement of slightly less than high quality | 2.67 |
| C+ | Work of slightly better than average quality | 2.33 |
| C | Work of average quality | 2.00 |
| C- | Work of slightly less than average quality | 1.67 |
| D+ | Work well below the average quality | 1.33 |
| D | Poor but passing | 1.00 |
| D- | Barely above failing | 0.67 |
| PS | Pass (selected courses only); equivalent of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+,, D, D- 1 | |
| S | Satisfactory (credit earned; graduate and professional courses only)1 | |
| F | Failure | 0.00 |
| IN | Incomplete1 | |
| PRS/PRU | Progress in Review1 | |
| W | Withdrawal1 | |
| NC | No Credit (selected courses only) equivalent of an F1 |
- 1
No effect on grade point average.
Non-letter grades are awarded as follows:
No grade (NR):NR is used until a final grade is available. (This is for registrar use only, when faculty members do not assign a grade.)
Audit (AU): Audit means a student is enrolled in credit-bearing courses but elects not to receive credit. A grade of AU has no effect on the student’s grade point average.
Pass/no credit (PS or NC): Students may elect to enroll in certain undergraduate courses for pass/no credit rather than an A-F grade. The PS or NC grade has no effect on the student’s grade point average.
Incomplete (IN): The grade of incomplete is assigned only in extraordinary cases when unexpected conditions prevent the student from completing the requirements of the course within the term of enrollment. The IN has no effect on the student’s grade point average.
Progress in review (PRS or PRU): The progress-in-review grade is intended for undergraduate research courses and for special projects at the undergraduate levels, such as honors thesis, study abroad, etc., that may not be completed at the end of a particular grading period. The progress-in-review grade has no effect on the student’s grade point average.
Quality Points: Quality points are the numerical values assigned to each letter grade and are used to compute the student’s cumulative grade point average by dividing the total number of quality hours into the total number of quality points earned, including F grades for all repeated courses that have not been approved for deletion on the basis of petition by the student.