Grading System
Levels of the grading schedule are assigned as A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, and F. At all grade levels the quality of English is taken into consideration.
In a few courses, such as Nursing clinicals, student teaching placements, and observation/participation hours in Teacher Education programs, grades are assigned as P=Pass; F=Fail. No quality points are assigned to these courses.
Definition of Grades
A grade of A indicates that a student has grasped the subject matter of a course and has internalized the material by thinking about it and acting on it. It represents not only industry, thoroughness, and correctness of detail, but also originality, natural ability, and no small degree of insight.
B indicates that a student has intellectually fulfilled the requirements of a course, assimilating the subject matter with thoroughness and correctness and some understanding of its relationship to life, yet without distinctive ability and insight in acting on the subject in such a way as to own it.
C indicates average work, either steady work of an acceptable quality, or work of a high quality which is uneven, irregular, or fragmentary. This grade is given to work that may be mechanically or outwardly correct but which shows little reflection upon or assimilation of the material.
D indicates barely passing work, work that is inferior to the average both in quantity and in quality. It manifests either low potentiality, the lack of initiative and sense of responsibility, or both.
F indicates failure.
I is a temporary grade indicating that not all requirements for the course have been completed. Incomplete grades must become letter grades by the end of the first week of the next semester after they were received, unless the instructor grants extended time by notifying the Office of Registration. (Exception: Incomplete grades for Semester II are due the end of the first week of the second session of summer.) Grades which are still Incomplete at the due time are recorded as F-Failure.
N indicates no credit and no quality points. It is assigned to allow extension of time for Independent Study and Directed Study courses or for research projects extending beyond one semester.
W indicates withdrawal from a course during the third through twelfth week of a semester or between the second day and last three days of a class in summer session. Although the grade is noted on the transcript, it has no effect on the GPA.
Grade Changes
A student must file an appeal for a grade within six months of the end of the semester in which the disputed grade was given. To appeal a grade, a student must follow the Academic Grievance Policy found in the Catalog.
Credit Hour Standards
Student credit loading for 15-week face-to-face lecture course:
3-student-credit course: 37.5 hours (150 minutes x 15 weeks = 2250 minutes/37.5 hours*) in class; 75 hours of out-of-class work.
Student credit for 4-week online lecture course:
3-student-credit course: 120 hours (24 hours x 5 weeks) of work.
*Student credit hours are based on the relevant contact hours/not weeks of class. For example, a student earns 3 credits for 37.5 contact hours in a traditional, face-to-face, non time-shortened lecture course regardless of whether these 37.5 contact hours are spread over 15 weeks during a regular semester or over 4 weeks during a summer term. And a student earns 3 credits for 20 contact hours in a time-shortened, face-to-face course regardless of whether these contact hours are spread over 4 or 5 weeks.