Office of the Registrar

After faculty have submitted Spring final grades, a student has until Wednesday, July 1, 2020 to complete a request for an S or P grade. That request form will be available on the IU Northwest Academic Affairs and Office of the Registrar websites. One request form per course is required. The request will require approval from the instructor (with advisor consultation/ review) to assure this grade change will be in the student‘s best interest based for their individual situation and program. The Dean’s signature (for the course in question) is required only if the instructor is not available. The advisor shall submit the completed form (via email approval chain) to the Registrar for processing.

Technically, yes, but is would be difficulty to come up with a scenario as to why it would be denied if in the best interested of the student. Faculty are being encouraged to be understanding and creative and flexible, doing all they can to assist the student with some creative academic means/papers/projects to help these students get to a letter grade. No one is suggesting sacrificing program integrity but everyone is advocating for flexibility and creativity. Otherwise, the S and P exceptions are available. Flat out denying the S or P without offering other alternatives is not where we hope to be.

Courses offered during the Spring 2020 semester (January 13 – May 9) are eligible. At this time, no exceptions have been approved for Summer 2020.

In order for a student to be approved for an S grade, their faculty-submitted grade in the class should have been a C or above. S grades will count toward degree requirements and prerequisites. Credit hours are earned for the class but there is no GPA value. See more detail below about the potential advantages of the S grade.
Students receiving grades of C- through D- may request a P grade. P grades are not
guaranteed to count toward specified degree requirements or pre-requisites but will count toward elective credit requirements. The credit hours are earned and there is no GPA value. See more detail below about the potential advantages of the P grade.

S grades in courses taken only during the Spring 2020 term will count as meeting course-based prerequisites that require a grade of C or higher. 

Yes; S grades in courses completed in Spring 2020 only will meet admissions criteria.

Yes; courses completed with an S grade in Spring 2020 only will count toward general elective and general education core requirements.

It is not. S grades calculate into hours completed but are not calculated into GPA. 

No; the S grade will not impact the limit for the number of elective courses that can be taken pass/fail. 

No; P grades are not guaranteed to count toward specified degree requirements or prerequisites. However, if existing degree requirements or prerequisites already accept grades of D- or higher or the grade of P, the P option will still meet those grade requirements.

No; P grades will not be considered as meeting admissions criteria for internal programs.

Yes and no; P grades will count toward elective requirements but NOT for General Education Core requirements.

While general education requirements can be satisfied with a passing grade (D-), some schools or majors may specify a grade of C for at least some of their gen ed requirements. For this reason, the decision was made to only guarantee that S grades would count for gen ed requirements. If a student earns a D- in a gen ed requirement that only requires a passing grade, they might still benefit from the P grade option because it protects their GPA from the D- grade and the course will count toward any elective requirements in the student’s major (assuming there is a different course the student can take in the future to satisfy that gen ed requirement).

It is not. P grades calculate into hours completed but are not calculated into GPA.

No; the P grade will not impact the limit for the number of elective courses that can be taken pass/fail.

Some programs use cumulative GPA for admission which will not be accurate with S or P grades and some programs use a group of courses such as Math and Science to make decisions. There may be concern about selecting a class where the student may not be academically ready to be successful in the programs. S grades in courses taken during the spring 2020 term must count toward program admission requirements. Advisors should plan to have conversations with students about their level of preparedness for more advanced level courses, particularly if the student earned a P.

Absolutely. If earning a letter grade is the best option for the student; and the instructor and student are able to work out an arrangement where the student has the opportunity to end up with a reasonably earned grade, then this is an excellent option and good use of the existing incomplete grade policy.

Only courses taken during the spring 2020 term which were completed by May 9, 2020 are eligible.

No student will be academically dismissed from IU Northwest as a result of
their course-based performance in Spring 2020. Rules governing academic dismissal will not consider Spring 2020 grades and will resume as normal following Fall 2020 grade submission.

No student will be placed on academic probation as a result of their course-based performance in Spring 2020. Rules governing academic probation will not consider Spring 2020 grades and will resume as normal following Fall 2020 grade submission.

While the guidance from IU Northwest faculty governance does not address “Academic Warning” or other school-based standing that is separate from the campus-wide undergraduate Probation and Dismissal policy, schools are encouraged to adopt the same pause on academic-based standing that has been adopted in the campus policy.

All IU Northwest programs are suspending academic dismissals based on course
performance for Spring 2020. The P will not count toward the GPA and the student would need to repeat courses for which a satisfactory grade has not been earned but is required.

Each IU campus will determine how to evaluate S and P grades when determining Dean’s List, Chancellor's List and other academic honors/awards. IU Northwest's procedure will be announced after the end of the semester.

The University Graduate School is advocating for flexibility in grading for graduate students by way of a special project or research or other creative academic activity that results in a standard letter grade. Those accommodations will be best for the students. Professional schools are using some latitude with the S grade; it is available if determined best for the student and compliant with their academic program. Use of the S grade may impact future transfer of the course towards a more advanced graduate degree. Any conversations about these grades for graduate or professional students need to take into consideration the specific, potential risk for this population of student.

IU Northwest SAP rules require students to 1) maintain a 2.0 program GPA; 2) successfully complete at least two-thirds of attempted coursework, and 3) complete planned degree program within 150% of program length.

• S or P grades do not carry GPA value so will have no effect on the requirement to maintain a 2.0 program GPA
• S or P grades are considered successful completion, so will increase credit completion rate
• S or P grades result in earned credit hours and apply toward maximum timeframe program length

The IU Northwest Office of Financial Aid also approves SAP appeals on “contract” with students, expecting them to successfully complete all courses and/or graduate as planned. In their review of Spring 2020 SAP contracts, OFA will provide latitude and/or appeal options to students that have had academic progress negatively impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

S and P grades do not carry GPA value so should not have an impact on merit scholarship renewal. S and P grades do result in earned credit hours, which is considered for merit scholarship renewal. If students are unable to meet merit scholarship renewal standards an appeal process with wider parameters will be planned.

Students will need to contact any external donor or scholarship provider directly to determine the impact of S and P grades. 

An “S” grade in courses taken during Spring 2020 should fulfill degree program requirements. A “P” grade may not fulfill those same requirements. Programs may require a course with a P grade (as with an F grade) be repeated to fulfill degree program requirements.

Individual departments associated with these programs will need to investigate. This
information will be important to those in the advising community.

Although the P grade stands as a substitute for grades D- through C-, it will not automatically satisfy a grade prerequisite requiring any grade higher than a D- or simple pass. Therefore, departments of subsequent courses requiring prerequisite course grades above a D- must provide students with specific class permissions for future registration. In the example above, Chemistry would provide class permission to those who completed the affected Math classes with a C-. Contact the Office of the Registrar for assistance.

If the academic advisement report (AAR) was initially built to allow grades of D- or P to count as satisfying a requirement, no updates are necessary as the grade will automatically apply. If D grades were allowable, but P grades were excluded in the AAR, the department will need to apply an exception to satisfy the requirement.

There is no need to “replace” the S since it has no GPA value and program repeat rules will apply.

For Spring 2020 grade replacement, the originally assigned Spring 2020 faculty grade will be used as the basis for whether grade replacement may be applied. The grade replacement policy specifies that on the second attempt, the student grade must be the same or higher before proceeding with grade replacement. Registrar would verify the faculty-assigned grade on spring 2020 grade roster was equal to or greater than original grade and process accordingly. If applicable, the earlier grade will be “X’d” are removed from GPA calculation while the new S or P will remain on the record, also with no GPA value.

This approach is compliant with the current grade replacement policy.

No. As part of the flexibility option of the S and P grading for Spring 2020, neither an S or a P used for grade replacement will count toward the 15-credit hour maximum.

If a student is receiving the GI Bill™ or Federal Tuition Assistance, receiving an S-Satisfactory grade does not negatively affect their benefits because it will apply towards that particular course in their degree program. However, receiving a P (Passing) grade could translate to that student being required to return money to the Veterans Administration or Dept of Defense. In short, there could be serious financial implications. Because of this, if a student asking about having their grade changed to the Passing grade option is identified as a student receiving these benefits (based on the military student groups below), the advisor should refer that student to the Office for Veterans and Military Personnel (OVMP) for guidance. The OVMP will verify with the advisor if the grade change is best for the student in question. The advisor is then asked to add a note to the advising system (AdRx) certifying that there was discussion with OVMP about this decision. Student Groups affected include RVGO, RV30, RV31, RV35, RV36, RV3C, RV3S, RV3Y and RV3V.

If a student’s tuition is being paid by an employer or other source outside of IU (outside sponsorship) and the student is required to submit grades, then receiving the S (Satisfactory) or P (Passing) grade option could have a negative impact. The student may be required to return money to the payer or may not be eligible for reimbursement. The student must work with their individual sponsor to determine if a grade of S or P is allowable before moving forward with an S/P petition.

Yes, S and P grades still result in a student earning credit hours for a course and will count toward the annual credit totals required to maintain 21C scholarship. Note that ICHE has provided some COVID-19 related relief: “the Commission will waive up to 15 credit hours for students who use either the 21st Century Scholarship, Frank O’Bannon Grant, or Next Generation Hoosier Educators Scholarship during Spring 2020. These waived hours will be added to the Credit Bank once Spring 2020 credit completion data is reported. Students will not need to submit an appeal to receive the waived hours.”

Students, faculty, and advisors are cautioned that grades of S or P may not  be accepted as transfer credit by other institutions or graduate programs. Having said that, countless colleges and universities are making similar exceptions for Spring 2020 so there is hope across the academy that schools will be lenient.

All IU campuses are providing some version of an S exception. IU Northwest and the regional campuses are following the same process and providing an exception for both S and P grades. IUB is following a different process for S grades only. In any case, S grades in Spring 2020 should be considered as satisfactory across IU campuses. If a P grade has been satisfactory for a particular degree program that would not change.IUB is following a different process for S grades only. In any case, S grades in Spring 2020 should be considered as satisfactory across IU campuses. If a P grade has been satisfactory for a particular degree program that would not change.