Grade Recording

Policy

All eligible Michigan State University students may request to have their grades recorded in a binary grading system of Satisfactory/Not Satisfactory (S/NS) for each eligible course in which they are enrolled during the Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021 and Summer 2021 semesters.

Eligible students:

Undergraduate students coded as undergraduate (UN), English language (EL), agricultural technology (AT), or lifelong undergraduate (LU);
Graduate students coded as graduate (GR doctoral or masters), graduate certificate (GC), and lifelong graduate (LG);
Students who have already chosen to take a course as Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) can request that the Registrar’s Office switch their grading scheme back to the numerical grading system and could then choose to have their grades recorded in the binary S/NS grade recording system.

Non-eligible students:

Students in the College of Human Medicine, except in courses graded on the 0.0-4.0 scale and in courses taken outside of the College of Human Medicine;
College of Law, except when they take classes outside of the College of Law;
College of Osteopathic Medicine, except when they take classes outside of the College of Osteopathic Medicine.
College of Veterinary Medicine undergraduate students are not eligible for S/NS, except in courses they take outside of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Non-eligible courses:

Undergraduate courses in the College of Veterinary Medicine;
Courses for which a binary grade of S/NS would never be in any student’s best interest, as identified by the offering college and approved by the Provost’s Office.

Eligibility for summer 2021:

The S/NS grading option will continue for most undergraduate students through summer 2021 which is the last semester we expect MSU will offer the S/NS grading option. The S/NS grading option will not continue through summer 2021 for graduate, law, or medical students.

Process

Instructor grade assignment

Instructors will assign grades as usual.

Student choice

For all eligible courses in which the numerical 0.0-4.0 grading system is used, students will receive their instructor-assigned numerical grades before having to decide whether they wish to have their 1.0-4.0 grades recorded by the Registrar’s Office using binary grading system of S/NS.

Students will use an online form to indicate their preference. All 0.0 grades will be atomically converted to NS.

For Fall 2020, the window for requesting that class grade be recorded as S/NS will be open from Wednesday, December 23, 2020 (the day that grades are posted) until 11:59.

p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 (two weeks later). Students who do not complete the online form by 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 will have their grades recorded in the grading system that is normally assigned to the class(es) or as CR/NC for students who had already chosen to take a course as Credit/No Credit.

Students who choose to have a course recorded in the binary S/NS system and subsequently change their mind and prefer the numerical system should contact the course offering department. The course offering department will submit a grade change form through the Administrative Action Form System. The deadline for all change requests is 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

For Spring 2021, the window for requesting that class grade be recorded as S/NS will be open from Wednesday, May 5, 2021 (the day that grades are posted) until 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 (two weeks later). Students who do not complete the online form by 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 will have their grades recorded in the grading system that is normally assigned to the class(es) or as CR/NC for students who had already chosen to take a course as Credit/No Credit.

For First Summer Session 2021, students will receive their First Summer Session grades on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 and will have until Tuesday, July 13, 2021 to opt into the binary grade reporting system for each of their classes. Student who opt-in and later change their mind can return to the S/NS selection page in Stuinfo and change their request. The deadline for all decisions is 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, July 13, 2021.

Students who receive grades after July 13, 2021 due to Incompletes/Extended Time or due to later receipt of international transcripts form Education Abroad programs should see their Assistant/Associate Dean’s Office of their major to request these grades be recorded in S/NS binary system.

For Full and Second Summer Session 2021, students will receive their Full and Second Summer Session grades on Tuesday, August 24, 2021 and will have until Monday, August 30, 2021 to opt into the binary grade reporting system for each of their classes. Student who opt-in and later change their mind can return to the S/NS selection page in Stuinfo and change their request. The deadline for all decisions is 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday, August 30, 2021.

Students who receive grades after August 30, 2021 due to Incompletes/Extended Time or due to later receipt of international transcripts form Education Abroad programs should see their Assistant/Associate Dean’s Office of their major to request these grades be recorded in S/NS binary system.

University conversion of grades

If a student has chosen to have their grades recorded in the binary S/NS recording system, the Registrar’s Office will convert the numerical grade to either S (Satisfactory) or NS (Not Satisfactory). For undergraduate students coded UN, EL, AT, or LU, numeric grades of 1.0 or above will be recorded as Satisfactory (S) and numeric grades below 1.0 will be recorded as Not Satisfactory (NS). For graduate students coded as GR, GC, LG, or LD, numeric grades of 2.0 and above will be recorded as S and numeric grades below 2.0 will be recorded as NS.

Additional Notes

MSU use of assigned grades and future availability of assigned grades

Grades recorded as S/NS will not be calculated into the student’s official cumulative GPA. Credits earned in classes recorded as S/NS will not count in the calculation of Dean’s List, as they are no longer numerically graded credits. A course in which a student earns an S will qualify for Honors

Option Credit only if the submitted numerical grade meets the college’s minimum grade requirements for Honors Options.

Students may receive course credit towards graduation for any class in which they earn an S. No students will receive course credit toward graduation for any class in which they earn an NS. Colleges may use the reported numeric grades to monitor and ensure students’ successful progression through their major(s) (degree programs) and enforce major (degree) progression policies, which may impact whether students receive course credit towards graduation.

Undergraduate, professional, and graduate programs are strongly encouraged to take into consideration the unusual circumstances of the current situation when interpreting and applying such policies.

Colleges, departments, and programs will have access to the grades originally assigned by the instructors when they make decisions about secondary admission, probation status, or non-need-based financial aid decisions. A student must earn an S in a course that is required for secondary admission in order to be considered for admission. For undergraduates, ASUS, secondary admission, progress toward degree, and other such decisions at the end of Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and summer 2021 will take into account the extraordinary circumstances students experienced during the semester and make every effort possible to allow students to continue to work toward their degrees. Students may retake any course that was recorded as S or NS and these courses will not count toward a students' retake cap of 20 credits. Students who retake a course that was recorded as S or NS will be considered for secondary admissions or major progression without prejudice based on the grade they received and converted to S or NS.

The numerical grade will be preserved by the Registrar’s Office separate from students’ transcripts so that it can be provided to entities external to Michigan State University at a student’s request.

Transcript annotation

All MSU transcripts that have any grade reported for Fall 2020 semester will include a statement explaining that the COVID-19 outbreak caused unusual disruptions.

Course retake policy

Regardless of the grade earned and recorded, courses recorded as S/NS are exempt from any policies that limits a student’s ability to retake the course. These courses will not count toward the 20-credit limit on course retakes.

Future availability of this policy

This optional grading system is available to students only during the Spring 2020 Semester, the Fall 2020 Semester, the Spring 2021 Semester, the Summer 2021 Semester and is being implemented in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.