Information for All Graduate Students

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The following grading policy has been adopted for graduate courses in the Hamilton Lugar School:

• A = 4.0 Outstanding achievement. Unusually complete command of the course content; exceptionally high level of scholarship.
• A- = 3.7 Excellent achievement. Very thorough command of course content; very high level of scholarship.
• B+ = 3.3 Very good achievement. Thorough command of course material.
• B = 3.0 Good achievement. Solid, acceptable performance.
• B- = 2.7 Fair achievement. Acceptable performance.
• C+ = 2.3 Not wholly satisfactory achievement. Marginal performance on some aspects of the course requirements.
• C = 2.0 Marginal achievement. Minimally acceptable performance on course assignments.
• C- = 1.7 Unsatisfactory achievement. Inadequate knowledge of course content. (Courses with a grade of C- or lower may not be counted in graduate programs.)

Pass/Fail Grading (P/F)

Pass/Fail grading allows students who earn any grade from an A to a D in a course to have a grade of P recorded on their transcript. The P grade is not averaged in the GPA. Courses taken under the Pass/Fail grading option may not be included in graduate degree programs.

Satisfactory/Fail Grading (S/F)

Courses graded Satisfactory/Fail (S/F) are not the same as courses graded Pass/Fail (P/F). S/F grading is applied to all students in a class. Only a few graduate courses, including some workshop courses and thesis courses, are eligible for S/F grading. A grade of F is included in the GPA, but a grade of S does not affect GPA. For both pass/fail and satisfactory/fail grading, a memo is required from the instructor showing that a grade of B or better would have been issued to the student for the course. Without this memo the course will not be counted toward a degree program.

Incomplete Course Work (I)

A grade of Incomplete may be assigned when, at the end of the term, a student has not completed all course work. This grade may be given only when the completed work is of passing quality. If the course work has been completed, but is of poor quality, a grade of I may not be given. Incomplete is not to be used as a mechanism for deferring a low grade. Unfinished course work must be completed within one calendar year from the date the grade of I is assigned. The course must ordinarily be completed with the original course instructor. The instructor then files a Removal of Incomplete form and assigns a letter grade. Incomplete grades that are not removed within one year are changed to a grade of F. This change occurs automatically unless the director of graduate studies receives and approves a petition for extension from the course instructor.

Students may not reenroll in a course in which they have a grade of I.

Deferred Grading (R)

An R, indicating that the grade has been deferred, may be assigned in thesis and dissertation courses, internship courses, and a few other selected courses where work is expected to take longer than one year to complete. The HLS Scheduler’s Office maintains a list of courses approved for R grading. Unlike a grade of I, a grade of R does not automatically change to an F.

Withdrawal from Courses (W and WF)

Withdrawal from enrollment in a course during the drop/add period (in the first week of each term) is not recorded on a student's transcript. Withdrawal after this time is recorded as a W on the student's transcript. During the first quarter of each term, students may withdraw without instructor consent. After this date instructor approval is required. If a student is failing at the time of withdrawal, or simply discontinues attending the class, a grade of WF (withdrawal with failure) is assigned. This is treated as an F in grade point averaging. Near the end of the term withdrawal is not allowed at all, except in cases where a student is withdrawing from all classes.

Students who have matriculated in a graduate degree but fail to enroll in program course work for a period of two years are automatically terminated from the program.

Students whose admission status is terminated because of a two-year lapse in enrollment will need to apply for readmission. They must meet current criteria for admission, and, if readmitted, are subject to current program requirements.

Doctoral students, during the dissertation portion of their program (after passing the oral qualifying examination), must enroll in at least one (1) credit hour each semester (but not summer) in order to maintain active student status. Students who fail to register each semester must back-enroll for all semesters missed in order to graduate. There is a charge of $290 per semester (plus tuition) for back-enrollment.

Minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) Requirements

Indiana University course grading is on the following four-point scale:

• A = 4.0
• A- = 3.7
• B+ = 3.3 C = 2.0
• B = 3.0
• B - = 2.7
• C+ = 2.3
• C = 2.0
• C- = 1.7
• D+ = 1.3
• D = 1.0
• D- = 0.7
• F = 0.0

Grade points are computed by multiplying the number of credit hours for a course times the course grade value. Grade point average (GPA) is computed by dividing the total number of hours completed into the total number of grade points earned.

GPA Requirements

Ordinarily a minimum of a B (3.0) average in graduate work is required for continuance in graduate study and for all graduate degrees.  Courses completed with grades below C (2.0) are not counted toward degree requirements, but such courses will be counted in calculating a student’s grade point average. Some departments may require an average grade in graduate courses higher than 3.0, while others may count grades below 3.0 toward degree requirements. (See departmental bulletin entries).

Students may not graduate with GPAs in their program course work below the minimum specified levels. Students may be placed on probation and dismissed if unable to raise their GPA to the required minimum.

Students so dismissed may apply for readmission. They will be readmitted only if there is substantial reason to expect that their academic performance will improve.

Accumulation of Incomplete Courses

Graduate students with an inordinate number of incomplete courses may not be allowed to register in additional courses. As a general rule, graduate students with nine or more credit hours of I or R grades (excluding dissertation credits) will be placed on probation and may be disallowed further enrollment.

Full-time graduate students typically enroll in 9 to 12 credit hours per semester. Ordinarily, students shall be considered full time if they are registered for 8 hours of credit (fall, spring, and summer terms) and their programs of study meet with the approval of the departments. Exceptions to this rule are listed in the bulletin.

The maximum allowable course load for graduate students is 16 credit hours in a fall or spring semester. Students may take no more than 16 credit hours in any semester or more than a total of 16 hours in all the summer sessions in any one year without permission of their graduate advisor.

Graduate Assistants and Instructors

Graduate students holding appointments such as associate instructor, graduate assistant, and research assistant for 15 hours per week (37.5 % full time equivalency) or more must be registered for six (6) credit hours during each semester (no registration is required during summer sessions).

Graduate Fellows

Fellowship holders who do not hold a position as a graduate assistant, research assistant, or associate instructor must enroll in a minimum of eight (8) credit hours per semester.

International Students

International students who do not hold a position as a graduate assistant, research assistant, or associate instructor must enroll in at least eight (8) credit hours per semester in order to meet visa requirements.

Students Receiving Financial Aid

Students receiving financial aid must meet certain course load requirements in order to continue receiving funds. Please visit Student Central for the most current information regarding these requirements.

Upon recommendation of the department and with the approval of the dean, work taken for graduate credit at other institutions may be transferred in partial fulfillment of degree requirements. The course work must meet the following requirements:

• All course work transferred must be from an accredited college or university.
• An official transcript is required for course work to be transferred.
• No transfer credit will be given for a course with a grade lower than a B.
• Courses graded P (Pass) may not ordinarily be transferred. Courses graded S (Satisfactory) may be transferred only if a letter is received from the course instructor stating that the student’s performance in the course was at or above a grade of B.
• All transferred courses must be relevant to the student’s program of studies.
• The courses must be approved by the program advisor and by the director of graduate studies.
• A course description or syllabus may be required in order to judge the appropriateness of course work to be transferred.
• Candidates for the M.A, or M.S. degree may transfer up to 9 hours of graduate credit from other institutions
• Candidates for the Ph.D. degree may transfer up to 30 hours of graduate credit from other institutions.

Master’s Degree Students: Master’s students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of course work at Indiana University with a minimum of 15 credit hours earned through the campus awarding the degree.

Doctoral Degree Students: Doctoral students in the 90 credit hour program must complete a minimum of 60 credit hours of course work (this includes dissertation credits).

Leaves of absence allow graduate students in the Hamilton Lugar School to deal with unforeseen events that interfere with their academic progress. During a leave, you are not expected to make progress toward your degree. Although you may complete coursework from previous terms during a leave, you may not attend class or use the leave to catch up on current coursework, prepare for exams, or write your dissertation.

After a leave of absence, you are expected to return to your program of study and resume progress toward your degree. Leaves of absence may not be requested retroactively.

Questions about leaves of absence? Contact the College Graduate Office at collgrad@iu.edu.

For more information see this link.

To keep their candidacies active, doctoral students with 90 credit hours or more may enroll in G901 for a flat fee of $150. Eligible students must have completed all graduate degree requirements except for the dissertation. Enrollment in G901 is limited to six semesters. Students who do not meet these criteria pay the applicable credit hour rate for dissertation research.

Normally, a course may not be counted toward degree requirements if it has been completed more than:

• Five years prior to the awarding of the degree for a master’s student
• Seven years prior to the passing of the qualifying examination for Ph.D. students

The graduate advisor, after consultation with the advisory committee, may, however, recommend to the dean that course work taken prior to the above deadlines be revalidated if it can be demonstrated that the knowledge contained in the course(s) remains current.  Currency of knowledge may be demonstrated by such things as:

• Passing an examination specifically on the material covered by the course
• Passing a more advanced course in the same subject area
• Passing a comprehensive examination in which the student demonstrates substantial knowledge of the content of the course; if the qualifying examination is used for this purpose of revalidation, the number of courses revalidated by this method should be limited to two in order to avoid compromising the integrity of the qualifying examination process.
• Teaching a comparable course
• Publishing scholarly research demonstrating substantial knowledge of the content and fundamental principles of the course.

Each course for which consideration for revalidation is being requested should be justified separately on the Revalidation eDoc.