Grades and Grade Point Average (GPA)

Grading Scale

Grades are an important component of the learning assessment process. All courses must be assigned a grade in the middle and end of the semester in which the course is offered. It is the responsibility of the course instructor to inform each class at the beginning of the semester of the nature of the course assessment and corresponding grades assigned. Each course instructor should include a grading metric in the course syllabus. The grades and guidelines below are used at KU for graduate programs (refer to KU Academic Policy ACA 3350 Grading System, GPA and Course Repetition). For policies and processes concerning the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, please refer to the CMHS Medical Student Handbook.

*XF: Failure Due to Academic Dishonesty (this grade can only be assigned after an academic dishonesty hearing; student may petition to change this grade to F).

Additional letter grades are used to denote special cases. These letter grades do not have corresponding grade points, and hence are not used in calculating a student’s grade point average.

*Incomplete Grade: The incomplete grade is an exceptional grade that can only be assigned when a student has satisfactorily completed a major portion of the work in a course but, for non-academic reasons beyond the student’s control and deemed to be acceptable in accordance with university regulations, was unable to meet the full requirements of the course. It is the student’s responsibility to meet with the instructor and request arrangements for the completion of the missing required coursework. A grade change request to remove the incomplete grade must be submitted no later than the end of the first week of classes in the following term. Failure to remove the “I” grade by this deadline will result in the “I” grade changing to “F”.

**No Grade Submitted: The N grade is a temporary grade that is assigned when the final grade is not submitted. Unresolved N grades will be converted to F or U as per the grade submission guidelines published by the Registrar’s Office.

Grade Point Average

The Grade Point Average (GPA) is the cumulative numerical average, which measures student academic achievement at the university. It is reflective of the credit hours the student has completed and the grades that the student has earned. A student transcript will display both a Semester GPA (SGPA) and a Cumulative GPA (CGPA).

The GPA is calculated by multiplying the grade point value of the letter grade by the number of credit hours of the course. The result is the quality points that the student has achieved in the particular course. The sum of the quality points of the courses taken is divided by the total credit hours completed to obtain the GPA. Grades without a corresponding value (AUD, EX, I, IP, N, S, TR, U, W, WA and WP) are not included in the computation of the cumulative grade point average. A sample GPA calculation is shown in the table below.

Grade Changes and Appeals

Final course grades are officially reported by the instructor at the end of an academic semester and recorded by the Registrar’s Office. Officially recorded grades can only be changed with the approval of the Department Chair and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies. A request to change a grade may be initiated in writing by the student or by the course instructor.

A student may appeal an officially recorded grade by submitting a “Grade Appeal” form to the Registrar’s Office no later than the first day of classes of the next regular semester. Grade appeals will be processed as per the provisions in KU Policy STL 5450 Student Grievances and Appeals.