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Grading Policies

Course grades are reported in letter symbols which include credit/no credit (CR/NC) and pass/fail (PA/FA). Grade reports are posted on MyGCC at the end of each semester. In the middle of each semester, early progress reports of academic deficiency are also posted on MyGCC for each course in which a student is earning grades of “D,” “F,” or “O.” In GCC’s grading system, plus (+) and minus (-) symbols may be used only for grades of “B” and “C,” while a minus symbol may be used for the grade of “A.”

Grades for developmental classes have a “D” as a prefix to the grade (e.g. “DA,” “DB+”) to denote that the grade is for a developmental class. These grades are not included in the GPA and the classes are not used towards graduation requirements.

Listed below are GCC’s grading symbols.

A—Excellent B—Good C—Satisfactory D—Poor F—Failing

 

IN Incomplete: indicates work of acceptable quality where the student has failed to complete course requirements and the instructor wishes to allow time for the completion of the work. The “IN” must be removed within four weeks of the beginning of the next semester or it is replaced by an “F,” “FA” (for courses graded PA/FA or “NC” (for courses graded CR/NC). If an incomplete grade for a pre-requisite course is not completed by the next term, the student will be withdrawn from the course roster.
W Withdrawn: indicates an official withdrawal from a course or the College. Withdrawal from the College requires submission of a completed withdrawal form available in MyGCC in the Submit a form section.
AW Administratively Withdrawn: indicates administrative withdrawal for failure to fulfill financial, medical (immunization records), or property obligations to the College. Once administratively withdrawn, a student may not be reinstated during that semester.
AU An audit carries no credit and has no grade point equivalent. AU grades cannot be used to satisfy graduation requirements.
CR* Credit – only used for courses that have a credit/no credit grading mode, not for letter graded courses
NC* No Credit – only used for courses that have a credit/no credit grading mode, not for letter graded courses
PA** Pass
FA** Fail
O Insufficient Basis for Evaluation: Indicates a student has discontinued attendance without formally withdrawing from the class or the College prior to the final withdrawal date. The “O” grade will be treated as an “F” in the calculation of the grade point average. The “O” grade is considered an indication of unsatisfactory academic progress for financial aid purposes.

* In courses designated CR/NC, student must perform work of “C” quality or better to earn credit (CR). Such courses often are not transferable to other institutions.

** Note: Full-time students may elect to take one course each semester on a PA/FA basis, in addition to courses normally graded PA/FA, provided that at least nine credits of coursework are taken on a graded (A, B, C, D, F) basis that semester. Students must perform work of “C” quality or better to earn credit (PA). This option must be selected at the time of registration. Courses taken on a PA/FA basis often are not transferable to other institutions, with the exception of some ART studio courses with 200-level ART prerequisites, that are graded PA/FA. A grade of FA will count negatively into student GPA calculations.

Course Prerequisites

Where prerequisites have been listed for courses, it is important that the student adhere to this academic requirement. Deviation from the policy must have the approval of the instructor of the class, the student's advisor, and the VP of Academic Affairs.

Grade Changes

Changes to a student's semester grade are done in MyGCC and can be done anytime.

Auditing a Course

Students may audit a course, i.e., participate in the class without earning a grade, credit hours or academic credit. Students must meet the prerequisite requirements for the course before registering. The student is encouraged by the instructor to participate fully in the learning process. Students must state their intention to audit at the time of registration and are required to pay all tuition and fees associated with the class. Financial aid does not cover the cost of audited classes. Changes to or from an audit status are treated as adding a class and must be processed prior to the end of the published add period. Contact the Registrar’s Office for information on changing audit status.

Grade Point Average

At the end of each semester or after any grade change, semester and cumulative grade point averages are calculated. These averages provide a general indication of academic performance, the first based on one semester and the latter on all of the courses taken by a student.

To calculate a grade point average (GPA), all letter grades are converted to numbers, called grade points, as follows:

A = 4.00 B = 3.00 C = 2.00 F = 0.00
A- = 3.65 B- = 2.65 C- = 1.65 O = 0.00
B+ = 3.35 C+ = 2.35 D = 1 FA = 0.00

Once the letter grades have been converted to grade points, grade points are multiplied by the number of credits for each course, resulting in what are called quality points. All of the quality points are totaled and the sum is divided by the total number of credits, resulting in the grade point average. In calculating a grade point average, only the grades listed above with their corresponding grade points are considered. No other grades affect the grade point average in any way.

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