Campus News

Effective for the Spring and Summer 2020 semesters only, all students will be permitted to convert individual courses to Pass/Fail grading. Students may choose to receive a passing grade (P), rather than a letter grade, in courses where they have earned a D or above. This policy will be noted on the transcript. These courses will still count toward major, minor, academic progress, and graduation requirements at Rockford University.  Grades of “P” are not calculated in the grade point average (GPA), however, grades of “F” are calculated in that average.  Prior to choosing a (P) in a course for their major, students are strongly encouraged to speak with their advisor and instructor.

Exceptions to Pass/Fail Rule

There will be several important exceptions to the regulations change above.  They are as follows:

• RHET 101 – Introductory Rhetoric and RHET 102 – Intermediate Rhetoric – For RHET 101 and RHET 102 courses, a passing grade (P) will be considered only for grades C and above.
• Education Courses – For all courses taken in the Education department as well as all supporting courses tied to the education major or minor, a passing grade (P) will be considered only for grades C- and above. Please check with your advisor for questions regarding supporting courses required for licensure.
• Nursing Courses – For all courses taken in the Nursing department, a passing grade (P) will be considered only for grades C and above.
• Graduate Courses – For all courses taken at the graduate level, a passing grade (P) will be considered only for grades C and above.

Faculty will grade student work as normal during the semester and submit the letter grade (A-F) to the Registrar’s Office via Self Service at the end of the semester or session for BSMS students. See below for submission deadlines.

Submitting a request
Students will have 96 hours after the final grade posting deadline to choose a “P” designation in selected courses wherein they earned the required letter grade needed to pass that particular course (see above exceptions). Please see below for deadlines.  Students will submit requests via an electronic form that will be available on the portal (https://www.rockford.edu/portal/pass-fail-request/ ).  Each request must include the following information:

• PowerCampus ID number (example: aa123456)
• Course title
• Course number (including the section number)
• Instructor name
• Number of credits
• Grade assigned
• Advisor name

This information is part of the student record available in Self Service.

Confirmation
Once a request for a “P” grade has been made, an email confirming that the request has been received will be sent.  Please keep a copy of this email.  Qualifying grades will be changed to a P as requested after the closing date. If students do not respond by the deadline, the letter grade recorded by the faculty member will be entered on the transcript.
Academic Affairs will keep a record of all submitted letter grades for Spring and Summer 2020 semesters.

Deadlines

Spring 2020 Semester

Traditional Undergraduate and Graduate Programs – Faculty will grade student work as normal during and submit the letter grade (A-F) to the Registrar’s Office via Self Service for the traditional spring semester by Monday, May 18 at 11.59 pm (an extension of the deadline previously published in the academic calendar).  Students may request a P grade for any of their spring semester classes by clicking on to the link below starting on Tuesday, May 19 at 12.01 am after the final grade posting deadline.  Students will have until Friday, May 22 at 11.59 pm to choose a P grade in selected courses where they have earned the required letter grade needed to pass that particular course (see above exceptions).  https://www.rockford.edu/portal/pass-fail-request/    

Spring 2020 Semester – BSMS Session 3 – Faculty will grade student work as normal during and submit the letter grade (A-F) to the Registrar’s Office via Self Service for BSMS Session 3 by Monday, June 1 at 11.59 pm. Students may request a P grade for any of their BSMS Session 3 classes by clicking on to the link below starting on Tuesday, June 2 at 12.01 am after the final grade posting deadline.  Students will have until Friday, June 5 at 11.59 pm to choose a P grade in selected courses where they have earned a D or above.  
https://www.rockford.edu/portal/pass-fail-request/

Summer 2020 Semester – Deadlines for Summer 2020 semester will be announced at the beginning of the summer term. 

Withdrawal Deadlines Extended
The date for withdrawing from a course (earning a W) will be extended until Friday, May 8 at 11.59 pm for traditional courses. Students can initiate this request by emailing their academic advisor and should keep a copy of correspondence for reference.

The date for withdrawing from a course (earning a W) will be extended until Friday, May 16 at 11.59 pm for BSMS Session 3 courses. Students can initiate this request by emailing their academic advisor and should keep a copy of correspondence for reference.

Academic Dismissals/Probation/Continued Probation
Academic dismissals have been suspended for the Spring 2020 semester.  Students who would normally be dismissed will be placed on probation or continued probation.
Students currently on Probation will either be:

• removed from probation if they have achieved the required GPA requirements or
• placed on Continued Probation.

Students currently on Continued Probation will either be:

• removed from probation if they have achieved the required GPA requirements or
• placed on Continued Probation.

Honors for Graduation
Eligibility for Honors designation upon graduation will not be impacted by choosing a P during Spring 2020.  Final honors for transcripts will be calculated based on Fall 2020 and Spring 2020 results.  Students will be awarded the higher honors designation of these two semesters.

Incomplete Grades – Completion Time Extended
The standard length of time to complete an incomplete grade is two months from the end of the semester.  For the Spring 2020 semester only, this will be extended to six months with the following conditions:

• If you receive an incomplete grade in a course that is a pre-requisite for a course that you are registered for in the following semester, you will need to receive a final passing grade before the course requiring a pre-requisite starts.
• If you are scheduled to graduate at the end of the Spring 2020 semester and receive an incomplete grade in a course that is a graduation requirement, your date of graduation will roll forward to the semester in which you complete the incomplete grade.

Calculator Links
When deciding how a P might affect your GPA, please refer to the academic catalog at the link below.
http://rockford.smartcatalogiq.com/2019-2020/Academic-Catalog/Academic-Policies-and-Regulations-for-Undergraduate-Programs/Academic-Regulations-for-Undergraduate-Programs/Academic-Policies/Grading-Practices

You can also find GPA calculators be searching the internet.  Below are links to a few examples:
https://www.calculator.net/gpa-calculator.html
https://reslife.berkeley.edu/gpa-calculator
https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/statistics/gpa-calculator.php

Impact of Taking a (P)ass Grade

Financial Aid
Anyone with a specific question should reach out to SAS directly by phone at (815)394-3700 or by email at SAS@rockford.edu .  W’s and P’s will not impact your GPA.  For SAP purposes, P’s will be counted in earned hours only. W’s and P’s will count towards your completion rate.  F’s will be calculated in your GPA, students who receive an F will be allowed to repeat the failed course once. Failed courses will count in attempted hours and will affect completion rate and GPA.  In general, however, the Federal Department of Education is allowing institutions to be more lenient for Spring 2020 due to COVID-19.

Scholarships
Anyone with a specific question regarding the impact of pass grades on scholarships should reach out to SAS directly by phone at (815)394-3700 or by email at SAS@rockford.edu .

Veterans Benefits
In the most recent VA FAQ information, the following has been stated in reference to converting grading scales to Pass/Fail as a result of COVID-19:
Although VA does not typically make payments for classes resulting in nonpunitive grades, if COVID 19 is reported as mitigating circumstances for the student’s receipt of a nonpunitive grade (i.e., Fail in a Pass/Fail class) VA will pay for the classes.

Athletic Eligibility
The NCAA and NACC regulations for eligibility moving forward from the Spring 2020 semester are listed below.  Student-athletes should contact Jessica Stanek (jstanek@rockford.edu ) directly to discuss athletic eligibility questions or issues. 

• The Spring 2020 semester cannot hurt a student-athlete’s eligibility
• If a student-athlete was eligible at the beginning of the Spring 2020 semester they are automatically eligible for the Fall 2020 semester (NACC one time waiver)
  • If a student-athlete has a C or below in a class and was otherwise eligible it may be best to change those to P’s
• If a student-athlete was NOT eligible at the beginning of the Spring 2020 semester they have to meet the 2.0 GPA and 24 credit hour requirement to be eligible for the Fall 2020 semester
• If their GPA was below the 2.0 requirement at the end of the Fall 2019 semester they would have to take some letter grades in order to increase their GPA to be eligible for the Fall 2020 semester
• If a student-athlete had a 2.0 or above GPA, takes letter grades, and their GPA drops below a 2.0 GPA they would still be eligible for the Fall 2020 semester based on the one-time waiver via the NACC proposal
• The Fall 2020 semester eligibility will be based on the full-time terms of Fall 2019 and Spring 2019.  Any summer, J-Term, and Spring 2020 credits will be added in along with those full-time terms to meet the 24 credit hour requirement
  • Students still need to meet the 2.0 GPA requirement except as outlined in bullet point five

Transfer Credit
For students transferring credit to other institutions in the state of Illinois, institutions are expected to treat transfer courses the same as they treat their own courses that fall within this framework and time.  The guidance below will apply to students transferring credit in from Illinois institutions taken during the Spring 2020 semester.  Courses completed with a passing grade should be applied as intended for IAI credit and should count toward completion of the General Education Core Curriculum (GECC) package. Courses completed with a passing grade should be used for meeting general education requirements if they are approved as part of the IAI GECC. 
Regardless of how or if an individual institution chooses to implement a P/F grade option for students, no student shall be required to repeat an IAI general education course for general education credit who received a “P” or passing grade at any IAI participating institution.
Courses should be allowed to meet graduation requirements within the specific institutional policies as implemented by the graduating institution. All leeway afforded to native students during the Spring 2020 semester and the COVID-19 pandemic should be equally afforded to transferring students.

If you have further questions, please contact the departments listed in the document above, your advisor, or department chair. 
Please stay healthy and safe as we finish this semester.

Sincerely,
Anna Jattkowski-Hudson
Registrar