This communication is designed to provide more detailed guidance as students consider taking courses Pass – Fail. This guidance ONLY applies to undergraduate courses and it is only effective for the spring 2020 semester.
Students may decide to take courses Pass – Fail at any time between May 1 and midnight on May 27, 2020. We have developed a new form in myOswego that will enable students to choose Pass – Fail for one or more of their courses. Grades for spring 2020 are expected to post in this form by the end of the business day on May 22. Students may return to this form and revise their decision regarding the Pass – Fail option for any course through the May 27 deadline.
We have also created a helpful Pass – Fail Majors/Minors web page in relation to the Pass – Fail policy. This important information explicitly details what courses you can take Pass – Fail and is directly tied to the requirements of your particular major or minor.
- Majors and Minors where students are permitted to take any course attributed to them as Pass – Fail
- Majors and Minors that allow some of their courses be taken Pass – Fail
- Majors and Minors where none of their courses can be taken Pass – Fail
Students taking a course for their major where a C- or better grade is not required may choose to take that course Pass – Fail. The link provided above offers guidance on what courses in any major can be taken Pass – Fail. Students in a minor that does not require C- or better for some or all of its courses have the same option as described for majors. Explicit guidance on minors is also provided in the link above.
In cases where a course satisfies more than one requirement of a major, minor, or general education, we will apply the most restrictive rule in the student’s case. For example, MAT 158 satisfies the General Education Mathematics requirement; it is also a cognate in Accounting BS. If the student is majoring in Accounting, the course cannot be taken Pass – Fail.
To date, faculty have received approval for waiving the existing C- or better requirement for some or all of the courses in 23 majors and minors. This means in such majors or minors, there are courses where previously C- or better was required but such courses can now be taken Pass – Fail this semester.
The majority of the programs that did not request to waive the C- or better requirements did so to ensure continued licensure, certification, or accreditation. This includes programs in Teacher Education, Business and Engineering.
There are a number of factors you should consider before making the decision to take courses Pass – Fail:
- Always consult your advisor as you prepare to make this choice.
- You may also need to consult Financial Aid, Students Accounts, or administrators of any scholarships or grants that you are receiving when applicable.
- A student may need at least one GPA-impacting course grade in order to ensure continued Good Standing. If the student takes all of their courses as Pass – Fail, they will have a zero GPA for the semester. Even though a zero semester GPA, in this case, has no impact on the cumulative GPA, it can place the student on Academic Warning, Academic Probation, or Academic Disqualification.
- Please note that there will be no academic dismissal at the end of this spring. Students will be permitted to return in the fall even in the case of Academic Disqualification. There will be no need to appeal an Academic Disqualification this spring as all students in that status will follow the Academic Probation process.
- Students must have a minimum of twelve (12) GPA-impacting credits to be eligible for President’s or Dean’s lists.
- A student may need GPA-impacting course grades in order to demonstrate satisfactory academic progress. Taking all of their courses as Pass – Fail may impact students’ Financial Aid, scholarships, or grants. The guidance we have received is that as long as students have one or more GPA-impacting course grades, there should not be a negative impact.
- A student may want GPA-impacting course grades in order to be competitive for graduate school admissions (and other purposes external to the program).
- Certain courses should NOT be taken Pass – Fail due to entrance requirements for some graduate programs. For example, medical schools often require specific grade performance in key prerequisite courses as part of their admission criteria. Such courses should not be taken Pass – Fail.
Rameen Mohammadi
Associate Provost for Undergraduate and Special Programs