SP 9-80a – Academic Standards

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SP 9-80a

APPROVED: December 9, 2020
EFFECTIVE: December 9, 2020
REVISED: April 13, 2022

REFERENCE(S): Board Policy (BP) 9-80, Academic Standards and Practices

APPROVED:

/ Joseph A. Garcia /
Joseph A. Garcia, Chancellor

APPLICATION

This procedure applies to the Colorado Community College System, including its Colleges (CCCS or System).

BASIS

This procedure establishes system-wide standards for grading, repeating courses, term dates, credits in residence, and honors designations.

DEFINITIONS

“Attempted Grade”: Grade for a course in which a student enrolled and attempted to complete.

“Credits in Residence”: Credit hours completed at an institution or within a system.

“Developmental Education”: Courses beginning with the digit “0”, designed to enhance students’ skills in Math, English, or other academic fields.

“Developmental Grade”: Grade for Developmental Education courses.

“Earned Grade”: Grade for a course that has been completed by a student.

“GPA”: Grade Point Average on a 4.0 scale.

PROCEDURES

Common Grading Symbols:
In order to standardize grading across the System, Colleges will use grades from a shared set of grading symbols. The full list of grades and symbols may or may not be used by all Colleges, but all grades issued by Colleges must be from the list below:

Currently approved grades:

Standard Grades:
A – Excellent or Superior
B – Good (Above Average Achievement)
C – Average
D – Deficient
F – Failure
I – Incomplete (Rolls to an F if not completed within required time period)

Note: In order to be eligible for an incomplete, a student is required to have completed over 75% of the coursework with a ‘C’ or better, and must finish the coursework by the end of the next term, excluding summer. Colleges may make exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Pass/Fail Grades:
P – Pass
F – Fail

A request for the P/F option must be submitted to the registration office. The P/F option may not be appropriate for certain courses.College catalogs should identify the maximum number of P/F credits that may be applied to a degree or certificate.

A “P” grade will indicate that the quality of students’ work in the course is equivalent to “C or better.” “P” will count in attempted and earned credits, but will not carry any quality points. Therefore, “P” grades will not be included in GPA calculations, however “F” grades will.

Developmental Grades:
P/A – Passing (A-level) work in a developmental course
P/B – Passing (B-level) work in a developmental course
P/C – Passing (C-level) work in a developmental course
F/D – Not-passing (D-level) work in a developmental course
F/F – Not-passing (F-level) work in a developmental course
I/F – Incomplete for developmental courses (Rolls to F/F if not completed within required time period)

Developmental Grades will not be included in a student’s GPA, or count towards attempted credits. GPAs for term recognition such as President’s List, Vice President’s List and Dean’s List will not include developmental course grades in the calculation.

In order to be eligible for an incomplete, a student is required to have completed over 75% of the coursework with a ‘P/C’ or better, and must finish the coursework by the end of the next term, excluding summer. Colleges may make exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Withdrawal Grades:
W – Student withdrew prior to withdrawal deadline
WX – Administrative withdrawal by appeal or institutional error
WD – Administrative withdrawal

Transfer Grades:
A* – Transfer equivalent to an “A” standard grade
B* – Transfer equivalent to a “B” standard grade
C* – Transfer equivalent to a “C” standard grade
D* – Transfer equivalent to a “D” standard grade
F* – Transfer equivalent to an “F” standard grade
S* – Transfer equivalent to an “S” standard grade
P* – Transfer equivalent to a “P” standard grade

“C” or better grades will be accepted in transfer. Colleges may choose to transfer “D” grades on a case-by-case basis. Colleges will determine by program whether a “D” grade may be used to meet degree or certificate requirements. Even if a CCCS College accepts a D grade in transfer, it may nullify certain transfer agreements and does not guarantee that it will be accepted at other institutions of higher education. Satisfactory grades, “S”, may be considered “P” grades for transfer purposes.

Other Grade Codes:
AU – Audit (Not counted in GPA, Attempted, or Earned)
CNV – No Grade (Used for High School Level classes only)
CR – Credit
IP – In Progress
NC – No Credit
PLA – Prior Learning Assessment
SP – Placeholder/Satisfactory Progress
Z – Placeholder/Missing Grades

Grades that are no longer approved for use:
CNG – Conversion (no grade)
CPL – Credit for Prior Learning
WF – Withdraw Failure
WP – Withdraw Pass
AW – Administrative Withdrawal
X – Equates to a Traditional D or F
S/A – Satisfactory (A-level) work in a developmental course
S/B – Satisfactory (B-level) work in a developmental course
S/C – Satisfactory (C-level) work in a developmental course
U/D – Unsatisfactory (D-level) work in a developmental course
U/F – Unsatisfactory (F-level) work in a developmental course
I/U – Incomplete for developmental courses (Rolls to a U/F if not completed)

Athletics:
Colleges with NJCAA approved athletic programs have the option of using developmental grades (P/A, P/B, P/C, F/D, F/F) in Physical Education (PED) courses.

Repeated Courses:

Term Start and End Dates:
CCCS administers both federal and state aid based on the Standard term-based Academic Calendar. The broad system start and end dates for terms are as follows:

Spring: January 1 – May 15
Summer: May 16 – August 15
Fall: August 16 – December 31

Each term (fall, spring AND summer) must have a defined start and end date. Federal Title IV financial aid administration requires colleges to identify the boundaries (start and end dates) of the standard term. Sessions, parts of term, modules, and intersessions are then defined within the term associated to the aid payment period. These dates are required for reporting purposes.

Session, modules, or parts of term may begin no more than two (2) weeks prior to the start of the defined term start date or they may end no more than two (2) weeks after the end of the defined term end date. Under no circumstances can a session extend both before and after the start and end dates of the term dates. The payment period assigned should be the upcoming or next term.

Intersessions or short sessions, modules or parts of term that fall between two terms (such as “winterim”) must be defined with the term associated with their payment period. The payment period assigned should be the upcoming or next term.

The start and end dates of sessions, modules, or part of term are prohibited from overlapping for Title IV administration purposes. The existence of a single course that overlaps terms results in the college having nonstandard terms.

CCCS Title IV Reporting and Administration is based on Department of Education definitions of a standard term. Additional guidance can be found in the Federal Student Aid Handbook Chapter 1; Volume 3 Academic Calendar, Payment Periods, and Disbursements, Standard Terms.

Credits in Residence:
A student must complete 25% of their credits in residence at the College that will confer the degree or certificate. A College may consider an appeal to award a degree or certificate to a student transferring from another CCCS College and who has not completed 25% of their credits in residence. In order to approve the appeal, the College must be able to explain and justify its decision.

Two or more CCCS Colleges may enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would allow students to complete a degree or certificate without satisfying the 25% credits in residence requirement. The MOU must be signed by each participating College, shared with the Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, and provided to the Higher Learning Commission.

Academic Honors:
CCCS Colleges provide an opportunity for students to be recognized with Academic Honors, on a term-by-term basis.

Each CCCS College may use the three recognized Honors:

Each College will identify in its catalog and other official documents, the Honors that are achievable at that College. Students who qualify will receive a notation for that term on their official transcript.

Term GPAs required to qualify for these Term Academic Honors are as follows:

P grades and grades for Developmental Education coursework are not included in the GPA Calculation. Students must complete a minimum of six (6) eligible credit hours in the term, in order to be considered for Term Academic Honors.

Awarding of summer term honors is at the discretion of the College.

Graduation Honors:
Graduation honors are awarded to students who complete the requirements for a degree and earn a 3.5 or better cumulative GPA at the College. Only college-level courses completed at the College will be included in the GPA calculation. The three levels of recognition are defined as follows and will be posted on the student’s transcript.

REVISING THIS PROCEDURE

CCCS reserves the right to change any provision or requirement of this procedure at any time and the change shall become effective immediately.