Incomplete Grades

An Incomplete (I) grade may be issued for a course in which a substantial portion of the course work has been satisfactorily but not entirely completed as of the end of the semester. The Incomplete grade can be recorded only when the completed portion of the student’s work is of passing quality. Instructors can award an Incomplete grade when a situation exists that makes it unjust to hold the student to the time limits previously established for the completion of his or her work.

Should the faculty member agree to assign a grade of Incomplete, he or she also has the right to set a specific date (up to one year later) by which all unfinished work must be completed. Upon submission of the completed work, the faculty member files the necessary paperwork and submits the final grade to the Office of the Registrar. The student will then receive a letter from the registrar that shows the final grade and the updated cumulative grade point average (GPA).

Please note that the instructor is not required to give a student a full year to complete the course work. The instructor has the right to set a shorter deadline as deemed appropriate. If the student has not satisfactorily completed the work by the deadline established by the instructor, the instructor will file the necessary paperwork and submit the appropriate final letter grade to the Office of the Registrar.

If the work has not been completed and a letter grade has not been assigned within one year from the end of the semester in which the Incomplete was awarded, the Office of the Registrar will automatically change the grade to an F. Both the student and the faculty member will receive notification of this pending change and should take immediate steps to resolve the Incomplete.

In some cases, instructors may recommend or require students to attend another term of the course (or a portion thereof) in order to remove the Incomplete grade. In such cases, students should not reenroll in the course. Instead, the student should make arrangements with the original instructor and the new instructor (if applicable) to attend the course as required by the instructor. At the end of the term, the original instructor will file the necessary paperwork and submit the appropriate final letter grade to the Office of the Registrar.

A student who is required to attend the course in a subsequent term should understand that attending the course or otherwise making up the Incomplete grade does not count as part of the student’s full- or part-time load for financial aid purposes or for loan deferments.

In some cases, after receiving an Incomplete, the student may wish to withdraw from the course. This requires the signatures of the instructor and the student’s dean.

Any Incomplete grade still on the student’s record at the time of degree will be frozen. This assumes that the course in which the student received the Incomplete was not needed to complete the degree. Frozen Incompletes are not subject to the automatic conversion to F and will remain as Incompletes on the student’s record.

Faculty Procedures for Removing an Incomplete Grade

Paper Form Procedures

1. Pick up a Removal of Incomplete Form from the recorder in your department or school.
2. Complete the form and return it to the Office of the Registrar (please do not give the form to the student to deliver).
   1. Be sure to submit the form by the deadline when Incomplete grades automatically change to failing grades (approximately 13 months after the end of the term in which the Incomplete was awarded). It is still possible to change the grade after that conversion has occurred, but it will require a formal appeal to the Academic Affairs Committee.
   2. If the student is completing the work for another instructor by attending your class, provide the appropriate grade information to the original instructor. He or she is responsible for filing the Removal of Incomplete Form with the registrar’s office.
   3. If the original instructor is no longer with the university or is unavailable (i.e., on sabbatical), provide the necessary information to the department chair. He or she will file the form on behalf of the original instructor.
3. The dean of the student’s school may authorize the change of an Incomplete to a withdrawal by completing a Removal of Incomplete Form.
4. The Office of the Registrar will notify the student of the new course grade and update his or her student record.

eGrade Change Request Procedures

1. Log into your OneStart Account.
2. Click on Faculty Systems on the left side of the screen.
3. Click on eGrade Change to go into the system.
4. Select the correct Term for the grade you would like to change.
5. *If you have taught on multiple campuses, make sure you select the correct term and campus combination. Once you are done click continue.
6. Select the course for which the grade has changed. *Rosters with an approved and posted status are able to be revised. All others will not allow access to change grades. Once you have verified that you have the correct course and student you can click continue to go on. If you do not see the students name listed on the roster he/she may have added the course late. If this is the case you would then need to follow the procedures to complete the paper form.
7. A list of students with a grade for that class will be displayed. Select the radio button next to the correct student. *If there is not a button displayed you will need to follow the procedures to complete a grande change form by paper. Once this is done click continue.
8. Then select the new grade from the Select Grade drop down menu and select a reason for the grade change from the Select Reason for Grade Change drop down menu. *This is a required field. Once you are done you will click continue.
9. Any notes that you may have can be typed into the Rationale for Grade Change text box. *This is a required field.
10. Once you have input all of the proper information you may click submit to finalize the request. Once the request is finalized, the instructor and student will receive an email message notifying them that the change in SIS is complete.