Grades and Grading

The College utilizes three systems of grading: a letter system, a credit/no credit system, and an optional pass/fail system.

Letter System
The letter system is the default system consisting of the following grades: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, and E.

Grades of A+ through D- earn both credit and honor points. A grade of E earns honor points but does not earn credit. 

Letter grades are reported and recording according to the following scale:

In the letter system, all grades are included in the calculation of the grade-point average (GPA) and the minimum cumulative GPA required for graduation is a 2.0. 

• Courses required for a major or minor - or in the major or minor field of study must be taken for a grade and cannot be elected pass/fail. 
• Students must have a minimum of 90 graded credits toward the 120 credits required for a degree.

Pass/Fail System

A student may elect a course on a Pass/Fail grading basis. Instructors are not notified of pass/fail elections. They will report grades as usual (A+ through E) and the registrar will then enter a grade of P if a grade of "C-" through "A+" and a grade of F if a grade less than "C-" had been reported.

Please note the following regarding Pass/Fail elections: 

• Students have through the late drop/add/pass/fail deadline (approximately ⅔ through the semester) to elect pass/fail grading in Wolverine Access. A change in grading pattern from a letter grade to optional pass/fail is not permitted after this deadline. 
• Courses elected pass/fail earn credit but do not earn honor points. Neither “Pass” or “Fail” grades enter into the calculation of the term or cumulative grade point average. 
  • P (Pass): credit, no honor points
  • F (Fail): no credit, no honor points
• Any course may be elected pass/fail EXCEPT: 
  • Courses required for a major or minor, elective courses for a major or minor, and courses in the major or minor subject/department
  • The final course used to fulfill the language requirement 
  • If such courses are elected pass/fail they will be uncovered by the LSA Office of Student Academic Affairs.
• Students must have a minimum of 90 graded credits toward the 120 credits required for a degree.

Credit/No Credit System

The credit/no credit system is used only in courses specifically approved by the LSA Curriculum Committee.  Experiential and field experiences courses are examples of courses that may utilize credit/no credit grading. Such courses are designated in the LSA Undergraduate Course Catalog and the LSA Course Guide.

• Credit (CR) is posted on the transcript if the instructor of a mandatory Credit/No Credit course believes that the amount and quality of a student's work is such that it deserves credit.
  • No honor points are earned with a grade of CR (Credit)
• NC (No Credit) is posted on the transcript if the instructor believes that a student's work does not justify the awarding of credit.
  • No credit or honor points are earned with a grade of NC (No Credit)
• Courses using the credit/no credit system may be used to fulfill a major or minor requirement.
• Courses using the credit/no credit system may not be elected as a letter or pass/fail grade.

NR (No Report) and NG (No Grade)

NR (No Report) grades should only be used in the following situations:

• For a student has a pending academic misconduct case. The NR serves as a placeholder grade until the academic misconduct case is resolved.  
• For a student hospitalization/serious issue in which you’ve received communication from our office such as through an instructor notification or through the Dean of Students Office. This allows the student time to make a decision about how to proceed with the course.

NR grades should not be used to indicate a student has stopped attending/not completed the course outside of the conditions above. This often prevents a student from getting much-needed support.

If a NR grade is not resolved by the end of the 4th week of the next full-term of enrollment, it will lapse to a grade of ED, which impacts GPA in the same way as a grade of E. 

NG (No grade) is recorded when a student has been registered into a class after the web grade rosters have been sent to the instructor. If the NG grade is not resolved by the end of the 4th week of the next full-term of enrollment, it will lapse to a grade of ED, which impacts GPA in the same way as a grade of E. 

A few courses (e.g., senior Honors thesis courses, Global Course Connections, or some Biological Sciences research courses) are approved as "two-term" sequences. In these specially approved cases only, an instructor can report a Y grade at the end of the first-term course to indicate work in progress. When a final grade is reported at the end of the second term, that final grade is posted for both terms' elections. 

In cases where a Y grade is reported for a course which is not approved to extend for two successive terms, an I (Incomplete) is posted on the transcript and the course is subject to the regular deadline for incompletes.