Below are highlights for undergraduate students completing Spring 2020 semester and the impact of COVID-19 adjustments to Academic Policies such as Pass/No Credit grading, Incompletes, and how academic standing will be determined at the end of this term.
Clarkson is offering all undergraduate students the option of converting their earned grades to a “pass” or “no credit” at the end of the term. For access to the full set of FAQs, follow this link: https://www.clarkson.edu/covid-19-current-student-faqs
How will it work? To simplify: All undergraduate students will finish spring courses, and faculty will grade them as they normally do, in accordance with the grading scale laid out in their syllabus. After all grades have been submitted, students will be given 5 days to review their grades and decide which ones they want to keep, and which ones they would like to convert to a Pass, or a No Credit grade. In order to receive a “pass,” the original earned grade must be a C or higher. Anything lower than a C will convert to “no credit” instead. Grades are due to be submitted on May 15. Students will have until noon on Wednesday, May 20 to review their grades and make their final selections.
Why is this important? If students are enrolled in a course that is required for graduation, and they earn a C- or D grade, keeping the earned grade means the course is complete and they do not need to repeat it (although it may lower the GPA). However, choosing to convert that C- or D grade to “no credit” means they will have to repeat the course again later, but their GPA will not be impacted.
What’s Changing?
- Students do not need to seek approval from their academic department for each course they wish to convert to pass/no credit- the University is granting that approval outright.
- The courses converted to pass/no credit during the Spring 2020 semester will not count toward the overall limit of credits allowed to be taken in this manner.
- The deadline to select pass/no credit has been extended from January 29th to May 20th at noon, giving students a chance to see their grades before they make their decision.
- If one of the courses students are enrolled in is required for a minor that they are pursuing, it can still be used to count toward minor requirements.
What’s Not Changing?
- Term honors (dean’s list and presidential scholar list) will still require students to have completed 12 graded credits, and 14 credits overall. That means, if they are enrolled in 14 credits right now, and convert a 3 credit class to pass/no credit, they are NOT eligible for term honors, regardless of GPA.
- Academic standing is assigned based on academic performance in the term, before any grades are converted to pass/no credit. Converting your lower grades to “no credit” will increase your overall GPA, but academic standing in the term will not be changed.
- The minimum grade required for a Pass will remain a C. Grades lower than a C will earn No Credit if converted.
Instructions regarding how to make those selections will be shared with students via the campus email announcement system, through the SAS webpage, through the COVID19 webpage, and through the Help! tile in myCU.
Additionally students have the option of requesting an incomplete grade if they find themselves unable to complete all of the course requirements by the end of the term. Students should reach out to their course instructor directly to do so. Please find the form on the SAS website to officially request an incomplete: https://intranet.clarkson.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/I-Graderequestfillable.pdf
o This form must be submitted before the end of the term, and students should plan to make up the missed work as soon as possible as incomplete grades may impact their financial aid eligibility for the summer or fall semesters. Students may contact their SAS Rep if there are concerns about financial aid.
