Grades and Grading

All Registrar’s Office forms are available at the Registrar’s Form Index

• Grade Change/Submission Forms
• Incomplete Grade Submission and Student Contract
• Incomplete Grade Extension Request

• A Special Note regarding COVID-19 Pandemic Grading
• Grades and Grade Point Values

A Special Note regarding COVID-19 Pandemic Grading

• All students in the “Graded” grading basis can already be assigned a Satisfactory (S) grade. This applies to the majority of students at CGU, but you can check which students are in Graded basis by viewing your class roster – instructions for this are on the Navigating your CGU Faculty Center Guide. There are no university-wide policies regarding the number of Satisfactory classes that a student can take overall or in a specific term, and we are not familiar with any department/school limitations on this, so under the circumstances you should feel at liberty to assign a Satisfactory grade without concern that you are putting a student over a limit.
• There are no approvals or authorizations needed to assign a Satisfactory grade. This is entirely an arrangement between the student and the class instructor, and the Registrar’s office does not need to record students’ approval for these grades. You are able to assign a Satisfactory grade to one or several students without in any way impacting others in the same class from receiving a letter grade, or vice versa.
• If your intention is to change to Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grade options for your class overall, we recommend that you discuss it first with your students. There may be some students that do not wish/can not accept a Satisfactory grade – students may have restrictions if they are eligible for tuition remission or are on a form of sponsorship, or they may prefer a letter grade for employment or admissions purposes at other institutions.
• CGU defines a Satisfactory grade as being equivalent to a B or above. The Registrar’s Office does not ever require any sort of justification for why a grade is selected, regardless of the grading basis – the grade you assign as the faculty member is all that is ever officially recorded.

Grades and Grade Point Values

Claremont Graduate University (CGU) uses the following grades for the evaluation of student performance. Grade points are calculated by multiplying the values below by the course units (for example, a B+ earned in a 4 unit course would have a grade point value of 13.2 for GPA calculations).

A+	4.0	C+	2.3	I	N/A
A	4.0	C	2.0	W	N/A
A-	3.7	C-	1.7	Y	N/A
B+	3.3
B	3.0	S	N/A	AU	N/A
B-	2.7	U	0.0	GP	N/A

 

Audited courses require a grade from the instructor. Acceptable grades are as follows.

• AU – Satisfactory completion of the audit.
• U – Unsatisfactory completion of the audit or student never attended.

Enrollment Notations.

• W (Withdrawn) is assigned when students drop a course after the Add/Drop deadline for the semester. W may not be assigned by instructors.
• Y (Unreported Evaluation) is an administrative notation and cannot be assigned by instructors.

Pass/Fail. CGU does not use P/F (Pass/Fail). The appropriate grades are S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory).

Graded or S/U Option. Unless a course is specifically coded to be offered as graded only or S/U grade only, instructors may make their own determinations for assigning grades. Agreements may be made directly with the student and no specific notification to the Registrar’s Office is required. Instructors are encouraged to comply with student requests for S/U grading unless a course is required to provide a letter grade.

Instructors are expected to submit grades for students enrolled in their courses by the semester deadline published in the Academic Calendar.

May Graduates. The 5Cs, and KGI have early deadlines for students who are graduating during the Spring term. The CGU registrar will contact any instructor with anticipated Non-CGU Claremont College May graduates to give advanced notice of the grading deadline.

• All grades should be submitted through PeopleSoft
• For assistance posting grades refer to the Navigating Your CGU Faculty Center guide. This guide walks you through each step of entering grades, with screenshots for easy orientation. Contact the IT Help Desk for assistance with logging on to the faculty portal: helpdesk@cgu.edu or 909-621-8174 (on campus: x18174).
• Grades not received via the faculty portal will not be recorded. Hard copy/PDF grade roster are only available to instructors at the other Claremont Colleges, or one of our joint program institutions (CSULB, SDSU, etc.), and may be requested directly from the Registrar’s Office.
• You must provide a grade for every name on your roster, including 5C and other non-CGU students.The Registrar’s Office automatically transfers grades back to the student’s home school. No separate reporting is required on your part.
• Students auditing a course must have an entry.  Use AU for successful completion of the audit, U (Unsatisfactory) for unsuccessful completion of the audit.  If the student did not show up for an audited course, contact the registrar’s office.
• Submit I (Incomplete) grades through your roster. Use the Incomplete Grade Submission Form (Found on the Registrar’s Form Index) only if you wish to specify an expiration date that is less than one year and/or to identify an alternate grade.
• The grades D+, D, D- and F are not valid CGU grades, and should instead be recorded as U (Unsatisfactory).
• Check your class rosters for accuracy. CGU adheres to a term-based transaction policy, meaning that any changes to students’ enrollment must be made within the semester. Unless otherwise disputed before the end of the semester, all records are considered complete, accurate, and permanent. Notify the Registrar’s Office in any of the following situations:
  • If a student’s name does not appear on your roster (Provide us with the student name and college, for students from the Claremont Colleges)
  • If a student appears as an auditor and should be graded, or vice versa
• Students are responsible for the accuracy of their own class schedules and for complying with Add/Drop procedures. Instructors should assign a U (Unsatisfactory) grade for any student who did not attend or participate in the course.
• To ensure student privacy and comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), do not post grades outside a door or share with other students for comparison purposes.

Courses for which a student was enrolled on an audit basis must be graded. If the student completed the course successfully, AU (Audit) is assigned. If the student did not complete the course, or if the student abandoned the course without formally dropping the course, a grade of U (Unsatisfactory) should be assigned.

Instructors should not leave the grade field for audited courses blank on grade rosters. If no grade is supplied, these grades will eventually default to Y (Unreported Evaluation).

If unusual or extenuating circumstances prevent a student from completing work in a course, the instructor may assign an Incomplete (I) grade provided the student’s performance in the course is satisfactory at the end of the semester. Instructors are not required to assign an Incomplete (I) grade to students who ask for them. As with other grades, instructors submit I grades through the faculty portal.

Expiration Date/Grade Lapse. A new grade must be submitted by no later than the grading deadline for the same semester next year. Note that this means the instructor must submit a new grade, not that the student needs to submit work to the instructor. Students should provide any outstanding work to instructors early enough to allow appropriate time for review and grading. Instructors may assign shorter periods of time for the student to submit new work through submission of the Incomplete Grade Submission and Student Contract for Course Completion form to the Registrar’s Office.

Grade. If work is not completed or if no grade is reported to the Registrar’s Office by the expiration date, the Incomplete grade lapses to a Unsatisfactory (U) grade. If the instructor has identified an alternate default grade, at the time of Incomplete expiration the Incomplete lapses to the alternate grade provided. Instructors may identify an alternate default grade through submission of the Incomplete Grade Submission and Student Contract for Course Completion form to the Registrar’s Office.

Procedure. If you wish to identify a different expiration date or default grade you should submit the Incomplete Grade Submission and Student Contract for Course Completion form using the procedure as follows to the Registrar’s Office. Instructors who do not wish to change the expiration date or specify an alternate grade are not required to submit this form and may assign an Incomplete (I) on the Grade Roster without any additional submission.

• Enter I (Incomplete) on the grade roster.
• Fill out the Incomplete Grade Submission and Student Contract for Course Completion form.
• Together with your student, agree upon a date for submission of outstanding work and record this date on the form. The date may not be later than the grading deadline of the same academic semester next year (see the Academic Calendar). Be sure to allow yourself sufficient time to evaluate the work and submit a grade by the expiration date.
• If you wish to allow for less than a year to complete the outstanding work, enter the new date grade will be due to the Registrar’s Office. This will be the date that the grade lapses to a Unsatisfactory (U) or an alternate grade, if one is specified on the form.
• If you wish to assign a grade the student would receive if no other work is submitted you may enter an alternate grade on the form. If you do not enter an alternate grade, the default grade is Unsatisfactory (U).
• Although optional, have the student sign the form and give a copy of this form to the student.
• Forward the original document to the Registrar’s Office. Forms that do not change the expiration date or specify an alternate grade do not need to be submitted to the Registrar’s Office.

Extension of Incomplete. After the Incomplete grade is recorded, if a student requires more time to complete work, a Request for Extension of Incomplete must be filed by the student with the Registrar’s Office. Only one extension is permitted. Requests for Extensions are accepted ONLY if the grade on the course is still I (Incomplete).

Completion of Work. After the student completes and submits the outstanding work to you, evaluate the work and submit a new grade using the Grade Change/Submission Form.

• Explanations for the grade change and dean’s approval are not required when the grade being changed is either I (Incomplete) or GP (Grade Pending).
• Grades that have lapsed to a permanent grade (a grade other than GP or I) cannot be changed to Incomplete. Changes of permanent grades require an explanation and dean’s approval.
• A grade change can only be requested by the instructor of record for the student’s class.

Instructors who are unable to submit grades by the semester deadline may submit a Grade Pending (GP) notation on their rosters to ensure more time for evaluating student performance. When ready to submit a grade, the instructor uses the Grade Change/Submission form. Note that no explanation for the grade change is required when the grade being changed is either GP (Grade Pending) or I (Incomplete).

If a grade is not provided before the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) review for following semester, the GP grade lapses to Y (Unreported Evaluation). The Y notation does not impact the student’s GPA; however, courses for which the student is assigned a Y grade cannot be used to fulfill degree or other requirements.

Grade changes are expected if the student was originally assigned an I (Incomplete) or GP (Grade Pending) grade. Grades for these students may be submitted using the Grade Change/Submission form. No explanation for the grade change is required when the grade being changed is either I or GP.

Once grades have been submitted or if a permanent grade or enrollment notation has already been recorded, changes should be made only in the most exceptional circumstances, such as to correct a reporting error. Instructors who wish to submit a change of grade for a student must complete the Grade Change/Submission form and provide a full explanation or reason for the change. Approval of the dean is required.

In addition, the following guidelines apply to grade changes.

• Once a permanent grade has been recorded for a student’s performance in a course, instructors are not required to accept additional work from a student for evaluation.
• If you agree to re-evaluate a student’s performance for a potential grade change, you may not consider academic work or performance in any subsequent course.
• Requests to change a permanent grade back to a temporary grade–such as to I or GP–are not accepted.
• A GP notation may be replaced by I (Incomplete), provided the grade has not lapsed to Y (Unreported Evaluation).
• A grade change can only be requested by the instructor of record for the student’s class.
• Instructors may not assign a W (Withdrawn); this is an enrollment notation based on the date of a student’s class drop.

Transcript Notations. Except for changes made to I and GP, all grade changes are noted on the student’s transcript with the date of the grade change.

Instructors who have questions about grading and/or grading policies should contact their program coordinators or the Registrar’s Office, student.records@cgu.edu. If you contact the Registrar, please provide the following information to ensure that your request receives an accurate response.

• Identify yourself as an instructor.
• Provide the course catalog number of your course and the applicable semester.
• Give full names of individuals–and their ID numbers, if available–when referencing students.

 

Rev 5/19