Three grading options possibilities are available:  

• optional, where students may enroll for either a letter grade or pass/no pass;  
• graded only, where students may only receive a letter grade;  
• or pass/no pass only, where students may not receive a letter grade. Courses taken pass/no pass only are designated on academic transcripts with an asterisk symbol next to the grade. 

Courses numbered 601 (Research), 503 (Thesis), and 603 (Dissertation) must be pass/no pass only. 

Grading-options are listed in the Online Class Schedule. Course proposals must specify which grading option should apply to general students and advise majors of the required grading option for degree requirements. Registration enforces only the grading-option choices for general students; there is no enforcement of grading-option requirements for students enrolled in any given major. 

All Area of Inquiry and Cultural Literacy courses must be offered to non-majors with optional grading. Departments may continue to offer “graded only” courses for their own majors.  

Grading options may be more restrictive at the section level of a course than at the general level. Departments who wish to have flexibility in offering different grading options may wish to request optional grading for new courses. It is not recommended that restrictive options such as “graded only” or “pass/no pass” only be specified at the catalog level unless departmental policy requires a restricted and unchanging grading option for a course. Requests to change the course grading option at the catalog level do not require review of the full UOCC. See Submission of Course Proposals for procedures. Changes are approved for the following term and may not be immediately effective, even in the event of an error.  

Approved By: University Senate        Date: 05/24/2023

Motion Number: US22/23-20

Revision History:

Original US22/23-20 Date 05/24/2023