Chapter 13. Grading and Transmission of Records

13.1 Grading.

A13.1.1 Graduate students in graduate or undergraduate courses shall be graded S, U, or I. The quality of work awarded a grade of S shall clearly merit certification of satisfactory progress towards the Master's or Ph.D. degrees. (Am 4 June 69, 29 May 96, effective 1 Sept 97)

13.1.2 All preliminary, qualifying and/or comprehensive graduate examinations shall be graded Honors (H), Pass (P), or Fail (F). Papers of students receiving H or F grades will be read by at least two readers. (En 4 June 69)

13.1.3

A) Graduate students have the option of receiving a letter grade of A, B, C, D or F instead of S or U in any graduate course or any undergraduate course that has the letter grade option. Letter grades A-F, shall be awarded for graduate students in the manner and with the meanings prescribed in SR 780, except that the grades A and B may be modified by plus (+) or minus (-) suffixes and the grade C may be modified by plus (+). A graduate student receiving a grade of C+, C, D, or F will not be able to use the credit for that course to satisfy any course requirement for a graduate degree in the Santa Cruz Division. A graduate program has the option of requiring letter grades or S/U grades for any graduate course offered by the graduate program. (En 4 June 69; Am 29 May 96, 9 Mar 11)

B) Grade points per credit shall be assigned by the Registrar as follows: A = 4; B = 3; C = 2; D = 1; F=0. I, W, or IP = none. "Minus" grades shall be assigned three-tenths grade point less per credit than unsuffixed grades, and "plus" grades (except A+) shall be assigned three-tenths grade point more per credit. The grade of A+ shall be assigned 4.0 grade points per credit, the same as for an unsuffixed A, but when A+ is reported it represents extraordinary achievement. The grade point average (GPA) for graduate students is determined by dividing the number of grade points earned by the number of credits attempted for a letter grade. The number of grade points earned for a course equals the number of grade points assigned multiplied by the number of course credits. Only letter grades are used for computing a graduate student’s grade point average. Graduate students must have taken at least 25 credits of their graduate courses as letter grades in order to receive an official GPA for their degree. (En 9 Mar 11)

C) The Registrar is authorized to change a final grade upon written request of an instructor, provided that a clerical or procedural error is the reason for the change. Grade changes (except for I and IP) must be submitted to the Registrar within one year from the close of the quarter for which the original grade was submitted, unless an extension of this deadline is approved by the Graduate Council. The Graduate Council may delegate this authority to the Dean of Graduate Studies. (Am 18 May 12; En 9 Mar 11)

13.1.4 The grade of I may be assigned when a student's work is of passing quality but is incomplete. A student may not repeat a course in which a grade of I has been received, except after approval of a petition by the Graduate Council. The student is entitled to replace this I grade by a passing grade and to receive credit provided they complete the work of the course by the end of the third quarter following that in which the grade I was received unless the instructor or department specifies an earlier date. Under extenuating circumstances, a petition for extension of this time may be granted by the chair of the department concerned upon recommendation of the instructor. (En 4 June 69; Am 19 Oct 87, 24 Oct 90; EC 1 Aug 77, 12 May 97, 31 Aug 16)

13.1.5 A grade in a single course extending over two or three terms of an academic year may be given at the end of the course. This grade will then be recorded as applying to each of the terms of the course. A student satisfactorily completing only one or two terms of a course extending over two or three terms of an academic year for reasons of illness or transfer, shall be given grades for those terms. In this context, SCR A9.1.8 shall apply to graduate courses. (En 4 June 69; CC 30 Jan 80; EC 1 June 10) 

13.1.6 Graduate students may repeat courses in which they received a grade of C, D, F or U. If a student repeats a course in which they received a grade of C or D, the credits are only counted once. The most recently earned grade will determine whether a degree requirement has been met. No course may be repeated more than once without prior written approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies. (En 29 May 96, effective 1 Sept 97; EC 31 Aug 16)

13.2 Evaluations. (En 4 June 69)

13.2.1 At the end of the term, each instructor teaching a course shall have the option to prepare a written evaluation for any student taking the course for credit. A written evaluation of a preliminary, qualifying, or comprehensive examination may be provided by the relevant department. (Am 31 May 95, 9 Mar 11; EC 1 Aug 77, 8 Aug 96, 12 May 97; CC 31 Aug 08)

13.2.2 The Registrar shall send student transcripts outside the institution only as requested by the student concerned. Only courses and grades will be sent unless the student expressly requests that narrative evaluations be included, in which event the Registrar must send all evaluations. (Am 1 Aug 84)