OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR

• Home
• Records
• Transcripts & Verifications
• Change of Grade Policy

Change of Grade Policy

Undergraduate students

• Grade change requests must be initiated (using the online change of grade feature in the grade roster in CAESAR) by the faculty member who assigned the grade.
• For courses in which a grade of X or Y was initially assigned, students must complete the course and the faculty must submit the grade change no later than the grading deadline of the following like term, or the incomplete grade will be changed to a final grade of F (failure). The University deadline to change an incomplete grade is the maximum amount of time allowed: Instructors are free to establish an earlier deadline, and students are bound by that agreement. Students planning to graduate before this deadline must complete courses and receive grades before graduating.
• All incompletes, including K grades, must be resolved before graduation. Grades of X or Y remaining at the time of graduation will be changed to final grades of F (failure). No grade changes are accepted after graduation.

Undergraduate Temporary Credit/No Credit Grade Election

For the 2020-21 academic year, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, and Spring 2021 (AY20-21), Northwestern offers undergraduate students a temporary grading option, Credit/No Credit (CR/NC), which will fulfill any academic requirement and bears no impact on the GPA.  Students will have the option to elect CR/NC grades for a portion of their classes graded over course of the year according to the following timeline:

• Spring 2021 Expected Graduates: June 16th-June 22nd, 2021
• Active Undergraduate Students: June 24th-June 30th, 2021
• Students on Leave will participate in the quarter in which they return.

Students are urged to consult an academic or career adviser as they consider this choice to understand the full impact of such changes on their future plans.  CR/NC grading elections are final and will not be reversed for any reason. 

In order to be eligible for financial aid, students must make annual satisfactory academic progress. Grades of NC are not considered completed classes for the purposes of satisfactory academic progress.

Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) Election Policy Highlights:

• CR/NC does not count toward the GPA.
• CR can be used to fulfill any academic requirement.
• Language will appear on all undergraduate students’ transcripts to indicate the unusual circumstances surrounding the 2020-21 academic year and the student’s option to change grades retrospectively.
• Grades of D and above and P may be converted to CR. N and F grades may be converted to NC.
• Departments will still enforce grade pre-requisites during registration. For the purposes of pre-requisites, a CR notation will be equivalent to a C- during self-service registration.  Departments will be able to review your original grade if they wish to enforce their graded pre-requisite after the initial registration period.
• The original grade assigned will be used in determining academic standing.

• Due to the credit/no credit process's impact on cumulative GPA, Latin Honors will be calculated for Spring 2021 graduates after all credit/no credit requests have been processed. For additional information about Latin Honors at Northwestern, please click here.

Electing Credit/No Credit (CR/NC):

• Students are not required to change any grades to CR/NC.
• Following completion of Spring 2021 Quarter, most undergraduates may elect CR/NC for the following number of graded classes:

Table refers to the number of graded classes, not to the number of units taken (e.g., .5 credit class would count as 1 class and a 3-unit field study class would also count as 1 class.)

• Undergraduates who have applied to graduate and are cleared for graduation in Fall 20 and Winter 21 may elect Credit/No Credit according to the above table within the two weeks following the end of their graduation term, before degrees are conferred. Graduating students will hear directly from the Office of the Registrar about this in their graduation term.
• Undergraduates who have submitted a completed petition to graduate in Winter 21 or Spring 21 may elect Credit/No Credit for up to one graded class from Fall 20. This change will take place after Fall 20 grades are released.  Graduating students will hear directly from the Office of the Registrar about this process in December.  Students graduating in Winter or Spring 2021 do not need to participate in the CR/NC process at the end of Fall Quarter.  It is entirely optional.  They will still be able to elect CR/NC notations for Fall classes when they participate at the end of their graduation quarters.
• Students who are not graduating this year will elect Credit/No Credit at one time in early summer 2021 according to the above table. Specific deadlines are forthcoming.
• Credit/No Credit elections are final.

Classes ineligible for Credit/No Credit grades

• Any class in which a student is currently being investigated for an academic integrity violation or in which a student was determined to be responsible for an academic integrity violation cannot be graded CR/NC.
• Classes in which students have an unresolved Incomplete grade at the time of election will not be eligible to be changed. Election deadlines will not be extended to accommodate Incomplete grades.

Pass/No Pass vs. Credit/No Credit Grading

• Traditional P/NP grading continues to be available this year.
• Unlike P grades, CR grades can be used to fulfill any academic requirement
• A grade of P may be changed to a CR, and a grade of N may be changed to NC.

Credit/No Credit and Taking a Leave

• Students who take a leave this academic year will be able to elect Credit/No Credit according to the above table from quarters in which they were enrolled during the 2020-21 academic year. These elections will be made in the quarter in which they return from leave.

 Credit/No Credit Election Form

Petition Process for Exception to the CR/NC Deadline

Students who were actively engaged in Spring 2021 classes but faced extraordinary circumstances at the end of the Spring 2021 or right after Spring Quarter, defined as a crisis at the level of a death in the family, hospitalization or similar types of incapacitation during the dates they could change grades to CR/NC, may seek approval from their school/college dean office to submit a petition to the Undergraduate Enrollment Petition Committee. Schools should carefully consider whether an exception request meets these criteria in order to determine whether to allow a student to submit a petition.

• Any petition must be accompanied by a dean’s affirmation that the school/college has deemed the circumstances eligible for consideration of an exception.
• Circumstances must have occurred during the time the student was to submit CR/NC grades and must reflect the type of incapacitation of action that occurs under extreme duress, such as loss of family member or crisis of health that removes the opportunity to take action. 
• Students who have graduated may not submit a petition.  

All petitions related to Credit/No Credit elections must be submitted by January 15, 2022. CR/NC exception petitions will not be reviewed or considered for any action after January 15, 2022.

Graduate students

• Grade change requests must be initiated (using the online change of grade feature in the grade roster in CAESAR) by the faculty member who assigned the grade.
• Grade changes including incompletes (Y, X) must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar within one year after the course was offered. The University deadline to change an incomplete grade is the maximum amount of time allowed: Instructors are free to establish an earlier deadline, and students are bound by that agreement.
• The one year deadline to make up an incomplete grade (Y, X) does not apply to the K grade for 590-0 research courses.
• All incompletes, including K grades, must be resolved before graduation. No grade changes are accepted after graduation.