Incomplete Grades

According to the Rules & Regulations V3, a student may be assigned a grade of "I" under the following circumstance:

Assigned when a student was doing satisfactory work, but for nonacademic reasons beyond their control and deemed acceptable by the instructor, was unable to meet the full requirements of the course. If the student's performance was so poor as to preclude their passing, the instructor shall assign the grade of F". "Last Date of Participation" should be entered for any student assigned a final grade of "F" or "I".

Acceptable reasons for assigning an "I" would include, but not be limited to, the following:

  • Personal illness of the student
  • Family emergency (death in family, serious illness in family, birth of child, etc.)
  • Computer failure/software problem/lack of data supplied by outside source
  • Travel required by job that could not be rescheduled

The student should be able to provide documentation to the instructor for any non-academic reason.

Other factors that should be considered and general guidance:

  • The emphasis is on the fact that the reason is not academic in nature and that the student was doing satisfactory work.
  • Students should not be instructed to sign up for the course again in order to make up an "I" grade and should only lack a small portion of course work. If the student is missing so much work that a passing grade could not have been assigned, a grade of "F" should be assigned.
  • The rule of thumb for this is that approximately 70% of the term should have passed for an Incomplete request to be appropriate.
  • The instructor may also consider the type of assignments that were missed such as group presentations, group projects, laboratories, or other examples where it would be difficult to recreate the work or conditions for the work to be completed.
  • An incomplete should not be granted in order for a student to redo a test, quiz, or exam in order to improve their grade.
  • Discussions about a possible Incomplete grade for a student should not occur until late enough in the term when it can be determined that the student is passing and that they have successfully completed enough of the class to have a reasonable chance of making it up by the deadline.
  • When completing a grade correction form to remove the "I" grade, the instructor is required to identify the nonacademic reason that the "I" was given, not what the student was required to do to make up the work.
  • Once a final grade is assigned to a course, it cannot be converted to an I (Incomplete) grade. An I grade must be assigned as part of the final grading process.
    • If a grade other than an incomplete is assigned during the final grading process, and special circumstances affected the student's matriculation at the end of the semester, the instructor may, at their discretion, allow the student to complete the missing assignment(s) within a reasonable period of time. When the instructor has evaluated the completed assignments, a change of grade can be submitted in the normal manner.
  • Students who receive a grade of "I" (Incomplete) should consult the Student Rules & Regulations VII regarding the length of time allowed to make up the Incomplete. An extension of the time needed to make up the missing assignments is possible, but should be done only under extenuating circumstances beyond the student's control. This is at the instructor's discretion.
    • The reasonable time frame of an extension for making up an Incomplete grade is dictated by the professor, based on whatever assignments are missing. The student must comply with it or be assigned the grade they have earned.
    • When the extension of the due date is approved, an exact date must be provided to the Registrar's Office such as “12-1-2022.” This date is entered into an extension field in Banner which is what avoids the conversion of the Incomplete to a grade of F if not completed by the due date.
    • Acceptable reasons for allowing an extension of the deadline for making up an Incomplete grade include:
      • The instructor is not available during the semester in which the make-up assignments are due.
      • The student is participating in a co-op or internship and is not actively enrolled in coursework for that semester and is therefore unable to focus on the Incomplete grade.
      • The instructor, for whatever reason, cannot continue working with the student on the Incomplete grade make-up and the School must assign a different instructor to work with the student.
      • The student continues to experience the illness or extenuating circumstances that warranted the Incomplete grade initially. If this continues beyond a calendar year, as a rule of thumb, a discussion with the student's academic advisor around a petition to the faculty to withdraw from the course might be advisable or even necessary.
  • An important thing to keep in mind is that at the end of every semester the Registrar's Office runs the “I to F” process. After an incomplete has been converted to an “F” grade it will not be changed back to an incomplete. At the instructor's discretion, a student may be allowed to complete the work and be assigned a revised grade through the normal change of grade process.