D05.0 Grades

At the commencement of the course, and as appropriate throughout the course, it is the responsibility of the instructor(s) to:

1. Define criteria for evaluation.

2. State the process for converting the professor's evaluation criteria to the RIT grading system.

3. Identify timelines for announcement, submission, and the return of graded work either at the beginning or during the progress of the course. No assignments shall be due during within-semester breaks, including weekends attached to those breaks.

1. For each credit hour earned the following number of quality points will be awarded based upon the grade received, and will be calculated in the grade point averages:

   Grade	Description	Quality Points
   A	Excellent	4.00
   A-		3.67
   B+		3.33
   B	Above Average	3.00
   B-		2.67
   C+		2.33
   C	Satisfactory	2.00
   C-		1.67
   D	Minimum Passing Grade	1.00
   F	Failure	0.00

2. An "F" grade does not count toward residency requirements (see Policy D12.0-Graduation Requirements) at the undergraduate level.
    
3. C- grades and below do not count toward the fulfillment of program requirements for a graduate degree.
    
4. Additional grades and notations that may be found on a student term record or transcript are shown below.

   Grade	Definition
   ______	Blank - that is, the grade has not yet been assigned or no grade is expected.
   R	Registered - a permanent grade used in graduate coursework indicating that a student has registered for a given course but has yet to meet the total requirements for the course or has continuing requirements to be met. The grade is given in graduate thesis work. Completion of this work will be noted by having the approved/accepted thesis or dissertation title, as received by the registrar from the department, added to the student's permanent record. Full tuition is charged for these courses. "R" graded courses are allowed in the calculation of the residency requirement for graduate programs; however, they do not affect GPA calculations. A student may receive a grade of "U" or "I" in a given term of an "R" graded course. A "U" grade in this case carries no credit and the course must be repeated.
   W	Withdrawn - a grade that indicates an official course withdrawal has been processed. See section D05.IV.
   S	Satisfactory - (undergraduate) - A satisfactory grade may only apply to acceptable completion of cooperative work experience, internships, courses bearing course numbers of 099 or below, and study abroad courses offered by affiliated programs.  With the exception of study abroad, such courses do not count toward residency requirements, earn credit hours or affect grade point average calculations.  In the case of study abroad courses, credits covered by the "S" grade will count toward residency requirements and will earn credit hours.  The "S" grade will not affect grade point average. Satisfactory (graduate) - A satisfactory grade at the graduate level may only apply to seminar, cooperative work experience, study abroad affiliate programs, and internship courses where programs have determined that a traditional alpha system letter grade is inappropriate.  An "S" grade at the graduate level carries no quality points and therefore does not enter into a GPA calculation.  A student may receive a grade of "U" or "I" in an "S" graded course.  In this case, a "U" grade carries no credit and the course must be repeated.  No more than 15% of a program’s degree credits may be "S" graded courses.
   I	Incomplete - When an instructor observes conditions beyond the control of a student such that the student is unable to complete course requirements in the given term or session, the instructor may assign an Incomplete notation (“I”) to a student. The instructor determines and advises the student of the due date, not to exceed two terms including summer session but excluding intersession, by which the student must complete course requirements. If the registrar has not received a "Change of Grade" form from the professor after two terms including summer session but excluding intersession, then the Incomplete becomes an "F" grade or a “U” grade if the “I” was associated with an “R” or “S” graded graduate course. An extension of time may be granted at the discretion of the instructor. Credit hours are not earned and the GPA is not affected until a permanent grade is assigned. If there are extenuating circumstances which render an instructor unable to assign a grade or evaluate a student's work and assign a grade to replace an "Incomplete" notation, the head of the academic unit in which the course was taught will select an instructor to act in the place of the original instructor. After appropriate evaluation of the student's work, that instructor will assign a grade in place of the "Incomplete" notation.
   NP	No Pass – A grade of “no pass” in an undergraduate course indicates that the student did not achieve a grade of D or higher in the course.  A grade of “NP” carries no course credit and does not affect the calculation of quality points or GPA.
   P	Pass - A grade of “pass” in an undergraduate course indicates that the student achieved a grade of D or higher.  A grade of “P” carries course credit but does not affect the calculation of quality points or GPA.
   U	Unsatisfactory (graduate) - a permanent grade used in certain graduate coursework indicating that a student made unsatisfactory progress towards completing the course requirements.  No credit hours are earned for a “U” grade and the “U” grade does not affect the calculation of quality points or GPA.  A “U” grade in an “R” or “S” graded course carries no credit and the course must be repeated.
   WV	Waived courses - those courses eliminated from the list of requirements that a student must take to graduate. For undergraduate students, only physical education courses and cooperative work experience may be waived because of previously completed experience. For graduate students, required courses may be waived because of previously completed academic work but in no case shall the resulting graduate program requirements be reduced below 30 semester credit hours. In addition, waiver credit for graduate courses can be applied only towards required courses and not towards elective courses. The process of waiving courses and thereby reducing graduate program requirements is not to be confused with the process of substituting specific courses for published requirements with an equal number of credit hours, thus retaining the total number of credit hours in the specified program. The total combined amount of credit applied through external (non-RIT) transfer credit, waived courses, and credit by competency may not exceed 20% of the total credits in the graduate program as noted in the graduate catalog.
   X	X Grade - Assigned for successful completion of various assessments as defined in Policy D.02.0 Admissions. “X” grade has three purposes: indicate credit by exam (undergraduate), indicate credit for non-traditional learning (undergraduate), and indicate Credit by Competency (graduate) (See policy D02.I.2) "X" graded courses do not count toward the residency requirement and do not affect GPA calculations. Credit hours are included as hours earned. For graduate students, the total combined amount of credit applied through external (non-RIT) transfer credit, waived courses, and credit by competency may not exceed 20% of the total credits in the graduate program as noted in the graduate catalog. Exceptions to the maximum credit by exam for graduate programs can be granted by the Graduate Council in unusual circumstances upon appeal from the dean of the college involved. For programs housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director of the academic unit is required.
   AU	Audit - indicates a student has officially registered for the course for no credit. Courses available for audit are at the discretion of the college or academic unit. With permission of the instructor, the student may elect to take examinations and do course assignments. Audited courses do not count toward the residency or other degree requirements. Credit hours are not earned and GPA calculations are not affected. A student may register for audit any time during the official registration period for the term. However, a student may not change from audit to credit or credit to audit after the official add/drop period (first seven calendar days, excluding Sundays and holidays, of the full fall, and spring terms and summer session). See Policy D03.0 - Registration. Changes from audit to credit must be accompanied by full payment of tuition. Excluding audit courses, degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolling for 12 or more credit hours or graduate students enrolling for 9 or more credit hours may take any additional hours for audit at no incremental charge provided the total hours do not exceed 18 credit hours. Excluding audit courses, undergraduate students enrolled for less than 12 credit hours or graduate students enrolled for less than 9 credit hours may take any additional hours for audit at a charge of one-half the normally assessed tuition rate.

5. Comprehensive Graduate Examination Grades. A comprehensive graduate examination is a required, zero-credit, capstone experience in some graduate programs. The examination is administered outside of a specific course but within a graduate degree program. The outcome of the examination is reported on a student's transcript for informational purposes only. Policies on retaking the exam are the prerogative of the specific graduate program. If a program allows a student to retake an exam, grades for all attempts are reported on transcripts.  Comprehensive graduate examination outcomes do not affect the calculation of a GPA.
    

   Outcome	Description
   P	Pass - A permanent grade indicating successful completion of a comprehensive examination.
   F	Fail - A permanent grade indicating unsuccessful completion of a comprehensive examination.
   T	Attempted - The examination was unsuccessfully attempted.

1. An undergraduate student may select a Pass/No Pass grade option for eligible courses.  To be eligible, the course must be an open elective and cannot be used to meet the requirements of the student’s major, minor, or general education requirements, including the immersion.

2. A student may attempt a maximum of 12 credit hours with the Pass/No Pass option during their academic career at RIT. 

3. A student may take no more than 6 credit hours with the Pass/No Pass option during a single academic term.

4. A student must select the Pass/No Pass option for a course before the last day of the online withdrawal period, which is the end of the 11th week for full semester courses. [See D05.0.V]

5. Faculty will not be notified of the student’s selection, prior to the final grade roster.  The faculty member will submit a normal letter grade for the Final Grade.  If the letter grade submitted is a D or better, the student’s transcript will show a grade of “P”.  The “P” grade carries no quality points and will not have any effect on the calculation of GPA.  If the student does not achieve a grade of D or higher, the course will appear on the transcript as “NP” and no credit is awarded but there is no effect on the calculation of GPA.

6. The student should consult with their Academic Advisor before making a Pass/No Pass selection.

7. A grade of “P” may be converted to the actual letter grade that the student received at any time prior to graduation.  The course credit hours, however, still count towards the student’s maximum allowed Pass/No Pass options.

After consulting with their new academic unit, degree-seeking undergraduate students who have changed their academic major to another undergraduate major have the ability to formally request to exclude grades for courses not required by the major. Final decisions regarding which courses will be accepted for Grade Exclusion rests with the new academic unit.

Exclusions require consultation and approval of the student’s primary academic department. An academic unit that wishes to exclude grades from courses that total more than 18 credits must have the approval of the senior associate provost.

All grades will remain on official and unofficial transcripts with a notation indicating that the grade is excluded from the GPA statistics. Exclusion of grades impacts both term and cumulative grade point averages (see section VII. below).

Students may request from their academic department to include grades that have previously been excluded.

Grades for courses that were part of an earlier completed and certified program (certificate, diploma, associate or bachelor’s degree) are not eligible for exclusion.

No grade exclusions or re-inclusions may occur once a degree has been certified for completion.

EFFECTIVE WITH THE START OF THE 2021-22 ACADEMIC YEAR:

Before 80% of a term is completed (eleventh week of a 14-week semester), undergraduate and graduate students will follow their respective processes as outlined below in D05.V.A.  After 80% of the term is completed, all students will follow the same process described in D05.V.B.

1. BEFORE 80% (11 weeks) OF THE TERM IS COMPLETED:

   1. Undergraduate Students
      
      Students are strongly advised to consult with their academic advisor and instructor before they withdraw from any courses. A student may not use the drop with a grade of “W” option to avoid charges of academic dishonesty or after the instructor has officially submitted the final grade.
      
      Prior to the end of the eleventh week of fall or spring term, a "W" will be assigned upon a full-time student’s request, providing the student maintains full-time credit status. In processing the request, the student, course instructor, advisor, and the home program or department head will be notified via e-mail.
      
      In order for a full-time undergraduate student to withdraw below full-time status, a student must request special permission from primary program or department leadership. Undergraduate degree seeking students who are enrolled less than full-time may not withdraw from any courses without the approval of primary program or department leadership. (RIT’s definition of full-time can be found in policy D02.0.III.E)
      
      If approved, the student, advisor, and course instructor will be notified. If denied, the student has the right to appeal the decision in accordance with the college’s appeal process.

   2. Graduate Students
      
      Prior to the end of the eleventh week of fall or spring term, a "W" will be assigned upon the student's request.  Students are strongly advised to consult with their academic advisor and instructor before they withdraw from any courses.  In processing the request, the student, course instructor, advisor, and the primary program or department leadership will be notified via e-mail.  A student may not use the drop with a grade of "W" option to avoid charges of academic dishonesty. 
       

2. AFTER 80% (11 WEEKS) OF THE TERM IS COMPLETED:

   1. All Students

      After the eleventh week and up to the last official class day of fall or spring term, a “W” will be assigned only with the approval and written signatures of the student, course instructor, the home program or department head, and the dean from the student’s home college. For a student whose program is housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director or director’s designee of the student’s academic unit is required.
      
      In all other academic sessions and for courses offered in time frames different from standard terms, course withdrawal is available upon the student’s request until 80% of the session or course as determined by the Registrar’s Office has been completed, providing undergraduate students enrolled full time maintain the credit status outlined above in A.1. After this point and up to the last official class day, a "W" will be assigned only with the approval and written signatures of the student, course instructor, the home program or department head, and the dean from the student’s home college. For a student whose program is housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director or director’s designee of the student’s academic unit is required.
      
      In unusual situations, a “W” may be granted after the last official class day, but this must occur before a final grade is posted. Such an extraordinary request is administered through the Provost’s Office, in consultation with (if possible) the student, course instructor, home program or department head, and dean from the student’s home college. For a student whose program is housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director or director’s designee of the student’s academic unit is required.
      
      While a “W” will appear on the student's transcript, it carries no credit and does not affect GPA.
      
      When a student chooses to drop a course with a grade of “W”, full tuition is charged. Courses with a “W” assigned do not count toward the residency requirement.
      
      Prior to Academic Year 2021-22:

      Students are strongly advised to consult with their academic advisor and instructor before they withdraw from any courses. A student may not use the drop with a grade of “W” option to avoid charges of academic dishonesty or after the instructor has officially submitted the final grade.

      Prior to the end of the eleventh week of fall or spring term, a "W" will be assigned upon the student’s online request. Students are strongly advised to consult with their academic advisor and instructor before they withdraw from any courses. In processing the request, the student, course instructor, advisor and the home program or department head will be notified via e-mail.

      After the eleventh week and up to the last official class day of fall or spring term, a “W” will be assigned only with the approval and written signatures of the student, course instructor, the home program or department head, and the dean from the student’s home college. For a student whose program is housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director or director’s designee of the student’s academic unit is required.

      In all other academic sessions and for courses offered in time frames different from standard terms, course withdrawal is available upon the student’s request until 80% of the session or course as determined by the Registrar’s Office has been completed. After this point and up to the last official class day, a "W" will be assigned only with the approval and written signatures of the student, course instructor, the home program or department head, and the dean from the student’s home college. For a student whose program is housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director or director’s designee of the student’s academic unit is required.

      In unusual situations, a “W” may be granted after the last official class day. Such an extraordinary request is administered through the Provost’s Office, in consultation with (if possible) the student, course instructor, home program or department head, and dean from the student’s home college. For a student whose program is housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director or director’s designee of the student’s academic unit is required.

      While a “W” will appear on the student's transcript, it carries no credit and does not affect GPA.

      When a student chooses to drop a course with a grade of “W”, full tuition is charged. Courses with a “W” assigned do not count toward the residency requirement.

Once a grade has been officially reported by an instructor, it is normally not the right of any person to change this grade unless an actual error has been made in computing or recording it. If an error has been made, the instructor must complete the Change of Grade/Extension of Incomplete Form and the completed form must be approved by the head of the department in which the instructor teaches. When approved by both of these individuals, the form is to be forwarded to the Registrar’s Office. There is an appeal procedure for disputed grades - see Policy D17.0-Final Course Grade Disputes.

If there are extenuating circumstances which render an instructor unable to assume their responsibilities, or is unavailable to participate in appeal procedures about grades, the head of the department where the course was taught will select an instructor to represent the deceased or otherwise unavailable instructor in such appeal procedures.

In extraordinary circumstances and at their discretion, the provost may, without violating the student’s right to confidentiality and after consultation with the instructor and the dean of the college in which the course was taken, settle special cases of an appeal of an assigned grade by administratively removing a student’s name from an official course roster and removing the student’s assigned grade from the student’s official transcript. The provost will inform the instructor of this action and, if giving such information does not violate the student’s right to confidentiality, explain the reason for it. The registrar will annually inform the Faculty Senate of the number of such administrative actions in the course of the year.

1. Undergraduate Students
   
   An undergraduate student may repeat a course to raise a grade. If a student repeats a course, the last grade will stand as final even if the last grade earned is lower than the grade previously earned.
   
   Courses taken at other institutions cannot be considered as repeats. Credit earned by examination/experience cannot be used to repeat previous course work. This process only applies to coursework in undergraduate programs.

2. Graduate Students
   
   For graduate students, approval from the dean or dean’s designee of the student’s home academic unit is required for any graduate courses a student wishes to take a second time. For a student whose program is housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director or director’s designee of the student’s academic unit is required.
   
   If permission to take a course a second time is granted:

   1. The grades of all courses attempted will count in calculating the graduate cumulative grade point average.

   2. A graduate program grade point average manually calculated by the academic unit is used for degree certification and must be at least 3.00 (“B” average) as a graduation requirement. All academic program course attempts are included in this calculation.

There will be two methods of grade point average calculation for undergraduate and graduate students that appear on grade reports and transcripts.

1. University - Term 
2. University - Cumulative

Note: A yearly GPA will be calculated for part-time undergraduate students to be used for dean’s list calculations (see D05.1.A-Academic Actions and Recognitions). University averages will reflect all RIT credit bearing course work completed.

In addition to the university requirements, individual colleges and/or programs may define more rigorous requirements for maintaining good academic standing. This information must be approved by the dean, clearly defined within published college policy, communicated in the university bulletin, and communicated to the Provost’s Office. For programs housed outside the college structure, the approval of the director of the academic unit is required.

The term grade point average reflects a single term of academic activity.

The cumulative grade point average reflects the sum total of course work completed at RIT and will be updated each term the student is in attendance.

Note: For graduate students, a program grade point average is manually calculated by the academic unit, used for degree certification and reflects course work completed at RIT applicable to graduation in a student’s current academic graduate program. The current academic program refers to the university and college degree course requirements specified by the degree granting college and noted in the graduate catalog. The program grade point average must be least 3.00 (“B” average) as a graduation requirement. All academic program course attempts are included in this calculation.

All GPA calculations will be carried out to two decimal places. Rounding will be done by adding .005 to the unrounded results and truncating after the second decimal place.

For undergraduates, in the case of a repeated or excluded course, the student’s permanent academic record will show a notation indicating the course has been repeated or excluded from both GPA calculations. The notation will not affect previously posted academic actions (such as probation or suspension).

A student who completes undergraduate studies at the university and then engages in graduate study will begin a new graduate cumulative GPA when re-classified as a graduate student.

1. It is the instructor’s responsibility to provide students with course related information necessary to support their success in a timely manner.  A syllabus and the completed grades for coursework are expected to be posted and accessible for students regularly throughout the course.  

2. Faculty members must provide feedback for all submitted work within two weeks of the submission deadline. Posting grades to RIT's Electronic Course Management System is required. The two-week posting requirement is waived in the case of deadline extensions, late submission of work, any extraneous circumstances, or when explicitly stated in the evaluation criteria.

3. Faculty members must post a syllabus before the start of any credit-bearing course on RIT's Electronic Course Management System.  The syllabus must contain a comprehensive grade breakdown of how the final course grade is determined.  

4. Although not required, faculty members are strongly encouraged to post relevant course documents such as PowerPoints and worksheets on RIT's Electronic Course Management System.  

5. Students may address concerns regarding the timeliness of posted syllabi or coursework feedback by following the procedure outlined below.

   1. If a student is not receiving syllabi or coursework feedback in a timely manner as prescribed above and wishes to address the concern, the student must request a meeting with the instructor for the purpose of reaching an understanding of when coursework grades would be made available to the student. It is the student’s responsibility to keep a record of the meeting occurrence.

   2. If the meeting with the instructor does not result in either a mutual understanding or if the student does not receive a syllabus or coursework feedback according to their mutual understanding, then the student may arrange a meeting with the instructor and the instructor’s academic unit head to address the concern. It is the student’s responsibility to keep a record of the meeting occurrence.

   3. If a meeting between the student, instructor, and instructor's academic unit head does not result in a mutual understanding regarding the timeliness of the syllabus or coursework feedback, the student may arrange a meeting with those parties and the dean or dean's designee from the college in which the course is offered to resolve any misunderstanding regarding the timeliness of coursework feedback. It is the student’s responsibility to keep a record of the meeting occurrence.

   4. If the meeting with the instructor, the instructor's academic unit head, and the dean or dean’s designee does not result in the student receiving a syllabus or coursework feedback according to their prior mutual understanding, then the student’s concern and records of the meetings occurrences may be used and presented by the student in a final course grade dispute (see D17.0 Final Course Grade Disputes).

   5. A student may elect to bring an advocate—defined here as a current RIT faculty, staff or student member—with them to all meetings outlined above.

   6. All communication regarding the arrangements of meetings shall be made using the RIT email system.

   7. If at any point in the procedure outlined above the student is denied a meeting with the respective parties without a plan to reschedule, or no response is given to the student after a meeting request attempt, then the student may elect to proceed to the next step of the procedure. A student must allow 3 business days for the respective parties to initially respond to any meeting request.

RESPONSIBLE OFFICE:
Office of the Provost and the Faculty Senate. For inquiries, please contact:

Faculty Senate:
fsenate@rit.edu 

Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs:
academicaffairs@rit.edu

EFFECTIVE DATE:
Approved October 1956

POLICY HISTORY:
Revised May 10, 2007
Edited August 2010
Revision for Academic Year 2012-2013 approved May 3, 2012
Revised for semesters April 25, 2013
Revised February 6, 2014 to allow Satisfactory (S) grade option at the graduate level in Graduate Seminar Courses, the Unsatisfactory (U) grade option in certain graduate coursework, and allow the current Registered (R) grade option to have additional Unsatisfactory (U) and Incomplete (I) grade options. 
Revised February 25, 2014 to include +/- grades 
Revised March 20, 2014 to add II.C – Comprehensive Graduate Exam Outcome Reporting
Edited June 15, 2014 to remove statement about excluding earned credits associated with an excluded course
Revised February 26, 2015 – Section II.B Satisfactory (graduate)
Revised March 3, 2016 – Section II.B Satisfactory (graduate)
Revised April 7, 2016 - Section II.A regarding the minimum grade for fulfilling program requirements for a graduate degree.  This policy revision is effective for courses taken starting Fall 2016.    
Revised February 1, 2017-to add Section I.C, Section VIII Submission of Grades
Revised March 9, 2017 - added Section VIII.C
Edited March 22, 2017 - change the withdrawal period to be at the end of the eleventh week, due to change in academic calendar
Revised April 12, 2018, Section VIII
Revised January 24, 2019, Section IV
Revised May 7, 2020, to add Pass/No Pass option
Revisions approved by Faculty Senate on April 28, 2022 - section I.C

Revised approved April 2018 by Faculty Senate, Section IX.E. Updated on December 19, 2024