Grading Policy

Purpose

To provide a measurement tool for a student’s academic achievement.

Policy

Minnesota State Community and Technical College uses letter grades to document student achievement as follows:

Letter Grade       Grade Value      Grade Point Value Per Credit Hour                  Total

A                             Excellent                                  4                                           4 x # course credits
B                       Above Average                             3                                           3 x # course credits
C                             Average                                   2                                           2 x # course credits
D                      Below Average                              1                                           1 x # course credits
F                              Failure                                     0                                           0 x # course credits
I                           Incomplete                                 0                                           0 x # course credits
NC                        No Credit                     No grade point value                                  None
P                              Pass                           No grade point value                                  None
CR              Credit by Examination         No grade point value                                  None

Other Designations

Audit of a Class for No Credit (AU)

The AU designation does not impact grade point average or satisfactory academic progress.

Failure for non-attendance (FN)

Used at the end of the course’s drop/add period when the student has never attended. The FN designation does not impact grade point average but may prevent financial aid from applying for the course (or will force a recalculation of financial aid that may have been applied prior to the posting of the FN). In the event of an FN grade posting, the student no longer has access to any course content, including electronic access to the course.

Failure to Withdraw (FW)

When the student has ceased active participation for 14 consecutive calendar days prior to the end of the term, the instructor may issue a grade of FW. Active participation in an online course is defined as completing an assignment from your instructor. Examples of this may include submitting a discussion post, uploading an assignment to the drop box, taking a quiz, or completing a survey, etc. The type of assignment may vary by course and instructor. Simply logging into the online classroom does not count as active participation. The FW designation does not impact grade point average and may force a recalculation of financial aid applied if the FW represents a total withdrawal from all coursework for the term prior to the 60th percentile date for the term. In the event of an FW grade posting, the student no longer has access to any course content, including electronic access to the course.

Withdrawal (W)

Requested by the student through eServices. The W designation does not impact grade point average. In the event of a W grade posting, the student no longer has access to any course content, including electronic access to the course.

Z Designator

Indicates faculty member has not submitted grade.