2020-21 Pass/No Credit Policy
This page covers the following topics for the 2020-21 academic year:
Pass/No Credit policy for fall 2020, spring 2021, and summer 2021
For the 2020-21 academic year, all courses 1000-level and below will be graded on a Pass/No Credit (also known as "P/NC") basis. This temporary policy update impacts first-year courses as well as 1000-level courses dispersed throughout the major programs. All other courses will adhere to their usual grading modality and the College's existing grading policies.
No request to convert to Pass/No Credit grading is needed. Letter-grading will not be an option; all students enrolled in these courses will be graded on a P/NC basis regardless of class level.
Grading standards for 2020-21 Pass/No Credit are different than for spring 2020 Pass/No Credit. For 2020-21,
- a letter grade of A+ through C equates to a Pass
- a letter grade of C- through F equates to a No Credit
A grade of P (for "Pass") receives the course’s designated units of credit (e.g. 3 units). A grade of NC (for "No Credit") results in 0 units of course credit. P/NC grades are not factored into the GPA. A student taking all P/NC coursework will have a 0.0 academic period GPA following the term in question.
For courses that are cross-listed across multiple levels (e.g., WRLIT-1100-2: First Year Writer's Workshop & LITPA-2000-23: First Year Writer's Workshop) only the 1000-level course (or below) will be graded on a P/NC basis. In Workday, cross-listed courses are referred to as "co-located." Students will have an opportunity to switch co-located sections during Open Registration or Add/Drop if they would prefer the 1000-level, Pass/No Credit version; they may wish to remain in the 2000-level, letter-graded version if they need to fulfill a specific requirement.
The College's existing policies for assigning incomplete grades will remain in place.
Whom to contact:
- Students with questions about grading policies or grading basis can contact the Student Records office.
- Undergraduates with questions about 1000-level vs 2000-level requirements can contact their academic advisor.
Pass/No Credit courses for 2020-21 include:
First Year Core Studio
- FYCST-1000: Drawing 1
- FYCST-1040: 2D
- FYCST-1080: 3D
- FYCST-1120: 4D
Critical Studies
- CRTSD-1500: Foundations in Critical Studies
Visual Studies
- VISST-1040: Introduction to the Arts
- VISST-1080: Introduction to Modern Arts
Writing + Literature
- WRLIT-0960: English for Multilingual Artists & Designers
- WRLIT-0980: Critique for Multilingual Artists and Designers
- WRLIT-1010: Writing 1 [Multilingual Learner]
- WRLIT-1030: Writing 1
Other
- All 1000-level courses dispersed throughout the major programs
Grade Forgiveness Request Process
As of fall 2020, CCA had a new Grade Forgiveness Policy for undergraduates. This is a permanent Student Handbook policy change. To accompany this new policy, the information on the C Grade Requirement within Undergraduate Degree Requirements was updated.
As of February 2021, undergraduate students are able to request that only the higher grade for a repeated course be factored into their cumulative grade point average, so long as the previous attempt resulted in a grade below a C. The Grade Forgiveness Policy applies to undergraduates only. Because this policy was effective fall 2020, students can request that a fall 2020 grade replace a previous attempt.
Please follow the instructions to create a Grade Forgiveness request in Workday:
- Go to workday.cca.edu, and log in using your CCA account credentials.
- Enter "Create Request" in Workday's search bar, and click the task that pops up.
- Select "Grade Forgiveness Request - Undergraduate" from the Request Type using the dropdown menu or by entering the request name.
- After selecting the Request Type, click "OK" to proceed.
Questions? Please contact studentrecords@cca.edu.
2020-21 Pass/No Credit and Grade Forgiveness
As of fall 2020, the temporary rule regarding Pass/No Credit was updated to reflect that all courses 1000-level and below would be offered on a Pass/No Credit basis only.
At the same time, the grading standard for Pass/No Credit was updated so that a letter grade of A+ through C equates to a Pass
As a consequence, undergraduate students who receive a Pass in a Pass/No Credit course during fall 2020, spring 2021, and summer 2021 have the ability to request that the Pass replace a letter grade below a C in a previous attempt of the same course, so long as they do so in accordance with the Grade Forgiveness Policy. The Grade Forgiveness Policy applies to undergraduates only.
Students are not able to ask that spring 2020 passing grades replace previous insufficient grades for two reasons:
- The grade forgiveness policy came into effect fall 2020 for any courses that were retaken than term or later. Courses retaken in spring 2020 do not qualify.
- The spring 2020 version of Pass/No Credit had a different grading standard to earn a Pass that is not consistent with the Grade Forgiveness Policy.
Students can request that a spring 2020 grade below a C be replaced in the cumulative GPA by a higher grade earned during or after fall 2020, so long as they do so in accordance with the Grade Forgiveness Policy. They simply cannot use a spring 2020 grade to replace an earlier grade.
For questions about requesting grade forgiveness, please contact studentrecords@cca.edu.