Understand how failing (“F”) grades are assigned by faculty, how they are reported, and some of the potential consequences for students.
Faculty must report academic participation when assigning an “F” grade. Faculty will select from three failure options that show how a student participated in class(es). Students receiving a failing grade will see one of the following on their academic record:
Standard 60% dates will be available in the academic calendar on this website.
When faculty determine which “F” grade to assign, they will consider when students participated in any academically related class activities.
| Academically Related Class Activities | Non-Academically Related Class Activities |
|---|---|
Academically related class activities are defined by federal policy and include any of the following:
| Academically related class activities do not include activities where a student may be present but not academically engaged. Examples include:
|
In a remote learning setting, logging in to a class is not enough to show that a student participated in academically related class activities. Students need to have engaged with the course content in some way in order for faculty to be able to report the student’s participation in class(es). These ways may include:
A student’s level of participation in a class may impact their federal or state financial aid. A higher level of reported participation in your classes gives students a better opportunity to keep any financial aid they have been awarded. Questions regarding financial aid should be directed to a financial aid advisor.
The U.S. Department of Education requires institutions to confirm that financial aid recipients meet the following criteria:
Because a student could be a financial aid applicant at any point during the academic year, we must collect this information for all students so that financial aid eligibility can be accurately determined. Participation information provided by faculty is critical to this process.
If a student believes there has been an error in the grade assigned by the faculty member, the student should contact them directly to discuss their concerns.
For more information about grades, including definitions of grades and related policies, please view:
Important grading information for faculty, including grading deadlines for current and upcoming terms and links to helpful resources, can be found on our Faculty/Staff Grading page.