Procedures for Grade Changes

Summary of Policy

Final grades are the responsibility of the instructor.

Reason for Policy

Explains the procedure for grade changes initiated either by the instructor or by the student.

Affected Parties

Students Under the Guarini School Programs

Policy Statement

Student-Initiated Appeal: 

A student who questions the appropriateness of a grade confers with the instructor and must initiate the appeal to the instructor, in writing, by the last day of the term following that in which the course was taken.

If the instructor agrees to change the grade:    

  • The instructor makes a written request to the Graduate Registrar, with the approval and co-signature of the Program Director/Chair.
  • The instructor must indicate one or more specific ways in which the student was done an injustice. A simple change of mind will not suffice. 
  • It may not be made on the grounds of course work completed after the term in which the course was offered other than in the case of an official incomplete.
  • The instructor must submit the final grade to the Graduate Registrar by the last day of the second term following the term in which the course was taken.

If the instructor refuses to make a grade change:

  • The student may appeal, in turn, to the Program Director/Chair, and then to the Dean of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies; it is unusual for such appeal to go beyond the Program Director/Chair. 

Instructor-Initiated Grade Change:

  • By the last day of the term following the term in which the course was taken, the Instructor makes a written request to the Graduate Registrar, with the approval and co-signature of the Program Director/Chair.
  • The Instructor must indicate one or more specific ways in which the student was done an injustice. A simple change of mind will not suffice.
  • It may not be made on the grounds of course work completed after the term in which the course was offered other than in the case of an official incomplete.
  • If the Graduate Registrar refuses to make the change, the instructor may appeal to the Dean of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.

Grade Changes after graduation:

  • If the student has graduated, only the Program Director/Chair may initiate a grade change. It must be submitted within one year of the student's graduation and only in the case of clerical, computational or other similar administrative error.

 

Tags

Effective Date

July 1, 2016

Last Revised Date

July 17, 2020

Office of Primary Responsibility