Pass/Fail Policy and Withdrawal Deadlines:
Note: Pass-Fail and Withdrawal deadlines are at the end of the 11th week of the semester. The Pass-Fail policy applies to undergraduate students only; the Withdrawal policy applies to undergraduate and graduate students.
University Senate By-Law language:
II.B.10 Academic Advising and Registration. Adding, Dropping, or Withdrawing from a Course
Instructions for adding and dropping courses appear in the Schedule of Classes. Within the following regulations, students may revise their course schedules on days and at hours specified by the Office of the Registrar. Though classes may be scheduled on weekends, these are not factored into the following regulations.
Students should consult with their academic advisor prior to adding or dropping courses. If a particular course requires consent, a student must obtain that consent before adding that course. Students may add semester courses during the first ten days of classes without special permissions. In exceptional circumstances only, a student may add courses after the tenth day of classes with the consent of the student’s advisor, the course instructor, and the head of the department or program offering the course. After the fourth week of the semester, the permission of the student’s academic dean or his/her designee is also required for adding classes. Students may Drop courses before the end of the tenth day of classes without transcript notations. After the tenth day of classes and through the eleventh week of the semester, a student may Withdraw from one course (for any reason) with permission from the student’s advisor. Students seeking to Withdraw from a course after the eleventh week of the semester must get approval from the student’s advisor and from the dean or designee of the school or college in which the student is enrolled. Approvals are given only for extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control; poor academic performance is not an extenuating circumstance. Any course Withdrawn from after the first ten days of classes will receive a ‘W’ on the transcript. Exceptions to transcript notations can be made only by the Provost or designee. For courses taught outside of the fall and spring semesters, these deadlines will be adjusted in a pro-rated fashion by the Registrar. During the first ten days of classes of the semester, a student may change course sections without advisor consultation. After the tenth day of classes, course section changes require the same authorizations as other add/drop transactions. A student who is enrolled in but does not attend any classes or laboratory meetings during the first ten days of classes may be denied a place in the course (see II.E.11, Class Attendance). Such non-attendance, or non-attendance later in the semester, does not constitute withdrawal; the student must officially drop the course by regular procedures or risk being assigned a failing grade. In considering a schedule with fewer than 12 credits, a student should consult with an advisor and dean or designee of the school or college in which the student is enrolled. A student considering fewer than 12 credits should note the regulations concerning part-time students, scholastic probation and dismissal (see II.B.3, Improper Registration or Failure to Register, II.B.4, Credits Permitted in a Semester and II.E.12, Suspension or Expulsion), and financial aid.
A student who withdraws from a full-year course at the close of the first semester shall receive credit for the work of the first semester if the student has passed the course, unless it is announced in the catalog that the course must be taken in its entirety, in which case the credit shall be withheld until the course is completed. Students at the University’s regional campuses are subject to all regulations governing adding and dropping courses except that course instructors act for the department heads and the regional campus director or designee acts for the dean. For courses of fewer than 14 weeks duration, the add/drop periods will be adjusted and set by the Registrar.
II.E.3.b Pass-Fail Option.
A student who is not on scholastic probation may elect a maximum of 12 credits (not including credits on P/F recorded in spring 2020) to be distributed over not more than one course per semester and three courses total, to be recorded as ‘P’ for Pass or ‘F’ for Fail on his or her permanent record. Courses taken Pass-Fail may only be used as electives; they may not be used to satisfy general education, school/college, major or minor requirements. Students who are selecting a course for the Pass-Fail option or want to convert a Pass-Fail back to a graded basis must do so by the eleventh of the semester. Students who convert to a Pass-Fail and then revert the course back to a graded basis cannot again convert the course back to a Pass-Fail. Students seeking to put a course on Pass-Fail after the eleventh week of the semester must get approval from the student’s advisor and from the Dean or designee of the school or college in which the student is enrolled. Approvals are given only for extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control; poor academic performance is not an extenuating circumstance. For courses taught outside of the fall and spring semesters, these deadlines will be adjusted in a pro-rated fashion by the Registrar.
During the semester the student completes the course and is graded in the usual way by the instructor; and the instructor submits a letter grade (per 3a, above). This letter grade is translated into a ‘P’ (‘D-‘ or above) or remains an ‘F.’ In neither event will a course taken under the Pass-Fail option be included in the computation of the semester or cumulative grade point average, but a grade below ‘C’ makes the student ineligible for Dean’s List. Individual schools and colleges have the privilege of adopting the Pass- Fail option with or without supplementary restrictions. Students are referred to the detailed statements of the various schools in the University Catalog for such restrictions.