Grades

At the end of each semester or term, each student who is registered for a course receives either a grade or a mark in that course. In each case, the grade or mark is one of the following letters: A, B, C, D, F, I, R, S, or W. At the discretion of the instructor, the grade A may be followed by a minus, as A-, and the grades B, C, D may be followed either by a plus, +, or a minus, -. The use of plus and minus indicates performance levels between those suggested by these characteristics:

Original: 29 March 2020

Revised: 14 May 2020

1. All undergraduate courses will be converted to S-D-R grading after midterm grades are posted. Assuming a student does not opt back into traditional grading:
   
   1. If a student receives a letter grade of C- or above, the mark of S (satisfactory) and credit will be given.
   2. If the grade of D, D+, or D- is received, the student has the option of: (i) accepting a mark of R with no effect on the GPA and no credit earned, or (ii) earning the credit, with the grade of D, D+, or D- becoming the grade of record (though it will not be used in computing the GPA).
   3. If the student receives a letter grade of F, an R will be recorded, and no credit will be given (unless the student receives an F due to academic dishonesty, in which case the F will be recorded).
2. Students can opt back into traditional grading (A, B, C, D, F) for each of their classes. In other words, students will have the option of requesting a traditional grade for one class only, or several of their classes, or all of their classes.
3. Students who wish to opt back into traditional grading for one or more of their classes will need to make the switch officially (following a procedure to be announced) by 11:59pm on June 3rd, 2020.
4. Once a student has opted back into traditional grading for a class this spring, the student may revert back to S-D-R grading.
5. This grading policy applies to all undergraduate classes, whether students are taking the classes here or abroad. If students are taking classes abroad and a grading system is used in the university abroad that does not perfectly align with St. Thomas’s system, the Office of Global Learning and Strategy will make any necessary decisions about how to align St. Thomas’s spring 2020 undergraduate grading policy with the grading system used by the university abroad.
6. This grading policy applies to all undergraduate classes, including all two-credit courses that were completed during the first seven weeks of Spring 2020.
7. No S-D-R grades will be calculated in grade point averages (GPAs).
8. Students who are repeating classes to improve their GPA and/or progress in course sequences should opt for a traditional letter grade in those classes. An S-D-R grade will not replace a previous grade for these purposes.
9. St. Thomas’s standard policy for determining Latin honors (summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude) will remain in place: according to that policy, grades of S do not figure into the GPA.
10. St. Thomas’s standard policy for determining the Dean’s Honor List will remain in place:
    1. A student “who attains a grade point average of 3.50 or more at the end of a semester in which they have taken at least twelve credits for regular grades (A, B, C) will be placed on the Dean’s Honor List if there are no grades of D or F or marks of I or R. (Evening program students must have taken at least eight credits in a semester and meet the same requirements.)” Thus (for example), a student who is registered this spring for four 4-credit classes may opt into S-D-R grading for one of the four classes and still be on the Dean’s Honor List, but may not opt for S-D-R grading for two of the four classes and still be on the Dean’s Honor List.
11. In order not to disadvantage students who do not opt for traditional grading, some provisions in the Undergraduate Catalog are being waived or revised for this spring. In particular:
    
    1. Courses used to fulfill a requirement in the core curriculum may be taken (this spring) using S-D-R grading.
    2. Courses taken this spring using S-D-R grading will not count in calculating the total number of credits that may be taken on the S-D-R option. More precisely, rule #2 in the 2019-20 Undergraduate Catalog regarding S-D-R grading is revised to read: “One-eighth of the credits taken through the undergraduate program, plus any S-D-R credits taken in spring 2020, may be taken on the S-D-R grading option; but no more than this number of credits may be taken on the S-D-R grading option.” So, if a student takes 132 credits as part of the undergraduate program, 16.5 (17) of those credits, plus all the credits the student takes S-D-R in spring 2020, may be taken S-D-R.
    3. Courses taken as part of a major or minor program may be taken S-D-R this spring without the signature of the department chair or program director.
12. As always, courses “that are routinely graded on the S-R system are not counted among the one-eighth of a student’s courses for which the S-D-R grading system may be selected” (2019-20 Undergraduate Catalog, S-R Grades). Thus (for example), if a student takes 132 credits as part of the undergraduate program, 16.5 (17) of those credits, plus all the credits the student takes S-D-R in spring 2020, plus any credits in courses routinely graded on the S-R system, may be taken using non-traditional grading.
13. There will be no academic suspensions or dismissals following the spring 2020 semester, and students will not be placed on academic probation unless they were already on probation prior to the semester.
14. Students currently on probation who do not raise their cumulative St. Thomas GPA above a 2.0 will remain on probation for fall 2020. Students on academic probation should consult with Academic Counseling (academiccounseling@stthomas.edu) about how to proceed with their grade decisions for spring 2020 based on their individual situations.

All transfer classes taken at other colleges or universities during spring 2020 will be accepted for credit with a grade of “pass” (or “satisfactory”, or a similar designation).

The grades A, B, C, D, either alone or followed by a plus or minus, and the grade F are called regular grades. Each of these grades has an associated grade point value. These values are listed below:

Marks of W, I, R, and S have no grade point value.

The grade point total is the sum of grade points (multiply each grade point value by the number of credits for the course) for all courses with grade point value.

The grade point average (GPA) is determined by dividing the grade point total by the number of credits with grade point value.

For example, using a standard four-credit course as a basis, if a student received two A's (32 points), one B- (10.8 points), and one C+ (9.2 points) divided by 16 (the number of credits), the GPA would be 3.25. If the student received a grade of F (0 points) in a course, the grade point total would still be divided by 16 credits, and the GPA would be lower.

1. All experiential learning courses are marked with S for satisfactory work and R for unsatisfactory work.
2. For individual study or research courses, the mark of S is given for satisfactory work and the mark of R for unsatisfactory work. If a student wishes to be graded according to the regular system (A, B, C, D, F), this choice must be approved by the appropriate faculty supervisor and the department chair.
3. In addition, this choice must be indicated on the form used to outline the individual study project.
   Several other courses in various departments are routinely marked with S for satisfactory and R for unsatisfactory work. The grading system for such courses is indicated as part of the regular course description.
4. Courses that are routinely graded on the S-R system are not counted among the one-eighth of a student's courses for which the S-D-R grading system may be selected.

The mark of I is used if the student has not completed the work of the course, has good reason for delay, and has made arrangements with the instructor before grades for the course are due. Ordinarily, good reason will involve matters not wholly within the control of the student such as illness. The mark may not be used to allow a student to improve a grade by completing additional work over and above that ordinarily expected for the course or by repetition of work already submitted to the instructor. The mark of I should not be used without prior arrangement between instructor and student.

If a mark of I is assigned, an Incomplete Form must be submitted to the office of Student Data Registrar. This form includes a description of work left to complete, a deadline for completion, the option for an instructor to provide a provisional grade based on work the student has completed to date, and signatures of both the student and instructor.

The student must complete the designated work and submit it to the instructor by the date designated by the instructor on the incomplete form. The latest possible date for entering a final grade is May 1 for an incomplete received in fall semester or January term and by December 1 for an incomplete received in spring semester or a summer session.

If a final grade is not submitted by the faculty member before the deadline, the mark of I will change to the provisional grade assigned on the form, or to a grade of F or R if no provisional grade was assigned. The deadline may not be extended. The instructor may change a resulting F or R by means of university grade change policies and procedures (see below).

An instructor may change a grade using the Grade Change Form only if there has been an error in the computation, transcription, or reporting of the grade. All grade changes must be submitted to the Office of Student Data and Registrar within 6 months of the original grade submission. From six months until one year after the original grade submission, changes require the approval of the department chair and dean.

After one year, grade changes are not allowed.

Instructors may change grades of F that resulted from the lapse of incomplete notations, but those changes require department chair and dean approval.

Changes may not be made on the basis of additional work completed by a student unless all members of the class had the option to submit additional work.

Final grades can be accessed by the student through Murphy Online, the St. Thomas student self-service system.

St. Thomas will post non-traditional grades that meet our minimum transfer grade policy (these include AB or a grade value of 3.5 and BC or a grade value of 2.5). to be posted, all non-traditional grades must be the equivalent of a C- or higher.