Advising

Grade Change Policy

A grade change may be submitted by your instructor to correct an error on a Supplementary Grade Report which the instructor obtains from their department office. The request must be accompanied by a formal explanation by the faculty member in charge of the course outlining the circumstances surrounding the original error and justifying the grade change" (Faculty Code B5.07). The Academic Standards Board cannot approve any Supplementary Grade Report for a grade change when "extra work is submitted", "student rewrote a paper", "student retook the final" or another special arrangement unless the instructor is able to provide the Board with a statement that the arrangement giving this one student the opportunity to raise his/her grade was an arrangement available to and known by every student in the course. If the grade is being changed because the work was submitted after grades were due and no "incomplete" grade was originally given, the grade will be posted with and "I" as long as the work was completed during the incomplete deadline period.

When the instructor is changing a grade from "incomplete", they must include the date the student submitted their completed work. Even if the course has lapsed to E the grade can still be approved for posting if the work completed by the student was within the incomplete deadline date or the extended deadline date.

Grade Grievances

Credit/No Credit (CR/NC)

If the instructor of a mandatory Credit/No Credit course believes that the amount of quality of a student's work is such that it deserves credit, CR is posted on the transcript. If the instructor believes that a student's work does not justify the awarding of credit, NC is posted on the transcript. Courses offered mandatory Credit/No Credit are designated in the course listing. A change in grading pattern for a mandatory Credit/No Credit course is not permitted. A student cannot choose to elect a course by the CR/NC grading pattern, the optional non-graded pattern is P/F.< Non-graded courses earn credit toward a degree but not honor points. Therefore, Credit grades do not enter into the computation of the term or cumulative grade point averages.

Incomplete (I)

An "Incomplete" may be reported only if the amount of unfinished work is small, the work is unfinished for reason acceptable to the instructor, and the student’s standing in the course is at least C-. The "I" grade is not included in the computation of the term or cumulative grade point averages during the period when the student has the privilege of making up the work. Incomplete grades may be made up while a student is not in residence even if a student has been dismissed from the College for reasons of unsatisfactory academic performance. An incomplete grade must be made up by the fourth week of a student's next fall or winter term in residence or by an extended deadline approved by the Office of Academic Standards.

An instructor has ten days following the four –week deadline or ten days following an approved extended deadline in which to report a final grade. The final grade is posted on the transcript, and credits and honor points are posted accordingly. The "I" is not removed when the course is completed but remains on the transcript. An "I" grade not finished by the incomplete deadline or an approved extended deadline lapses to E. In such cases, no degree credit is earned and the course is then computed as an E in the term and cumulative grade point averages.  Unfinished courses elected on a non-graded pattern (Pass/Fail, Credit/No Credit) lapse to "Fail or "No Credit" but do not affect the term or cumulative grade point averages.

No Report (NR)

If an NR is reported by the instructor, no grade was issued for you on their Grade Report. If you attended the course, contact the instructor. The instructor would have to fill out a Supplementary Grade Report that they obtain from their department office to issue you a grade. If a grade is not submitted by the fourth week of the next fall or winter term of registration, the NR will be converted to an ED. An ED carries no degree credit and the course is computed as an E in the term and cumulative grade point average.

If you did not attend the class or stopped attending at some point during the term, you will need to petition the Academic Standards Board for a retroactive withdrawal from the course. See for details.

Petitioning the Academic Standards BoardNo Grade (NG)

The NG is recorded when a student has been registered into a class after the course grade sheets have been sent to the instructor. The instructor would have to fill out a Supplementary Grade Report that they obtain from their department office to issue you a grade. The NG will convert to an ED if unresolved after the first four weeks of the next fall or winter registration. An ED carries no degree credit, and the course is computed as an E in the term and cumulative grade point averages.

Pass/Fail (P/F)

Instructor approval is not required for a choice in the elected grading pattern nor should the instructor be informed of such a choice. Instructors report letter grades (A+ through E) for all students in their courses, except in mandatory CR/NC courses. In the case of a student who has chosen to elect a course Pass/Fail, the Office of the Registrar converts the letter grades according to the following policies:

  1. Grades of A+ though C- are posted on a transcript as "P" (Pass); credit toward a degree is earned.
  2. Grades of D+ through E are posted on a transcript as "F" (Fail); no degree credit is earned.

A change in grading pattern for a course is not permitted after the first three weeks of a full term (first two weeks of a half term). Grading pattern choices must be modified through the registration system. Courses elected after the third week of a term may not be elected on a non-graded basis unless the course is offered as a "mandatory non-graded" course. The only exception to this policy are mini courses which start after the beginning of the term. In these cases, the grading pattern may not be changed after the second week of class. The Academic Standards Board does not grant exceptions to this policy.

Any course in your concentration or the final course in a sequence used to fulfill the Language Requirement may not be elected on a pass/fail basis. Therefore, the Academic Standards Board will convert these pass/fail elections to graded status.

The College holds students responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of their class schedule. Non-graded courses earn credit toward a degree but not honor points. Therefore, Pass grades do not enter into the computation of the term or cumulative grade point averages.

A student may pay a special fee set by the Registrar's Office and request a specially prepared appendix to the transcript on which the original grades submitted for all courses elected "Pass/Fail" are listed. Please note that the the transcript is not changed in any way.

FAQs — Grades, Grading and Pass/Fail
Frequently Asked Questions about Incomplete ("I") Grades
Common Pass/Fail Questions
How to Compute Your Grade Point Average

A GPA is calculated by dividing the total number of Michigan Semester Hours (MSH) elected during a term into the total number of Michigan Honor Points (MHP) earned during the same term.

Why Honor Points Matter *

Students are placed on academic probation if either the term grade point average or the cumulative grade point average falls below 2.0. If your cumulative grade point average falls below 2.0 you have an Honor Point Deficit (HPD).

How To Take and Finish An Incomplete

If you believe you will not be able to finish the work for a course, you may request a grade of "I" from the instructor. The instructor is under no obligation to grant your request.

How to Compute an Honor Point Deficit

A deficit means that the GPA of the concentration, minor or cumulative average has fallen below the required minimum of 2.0.

Repeating Courses

Repetition of a course that varies in content from term to term is permitted only under certain conditions.

Grade Grievance Procedures

LSA grade grievance information: What the faculty code says, and what the policies are for each of the various department and program in LSA

How To Make Pass/Fail Changes

You make a course Pass/Fail by adding the election modifier "P/F" via Wolverine Access. You may do this any time up until the Open Drop/Add deadline. After the deadline, it is impossible to add or remove the P/F modifier.