Grades

Students have the option of choosing to credit/no credit by submitting an add/drop form or by emailing registration@highline.edu by the quarterly deadline.

• Maximum of 15 credits designated as CR may be applied toward an AA Option A degree.
• Other degrees and programs will designate the maximum number of applicable CR credits.
• CR credits may or may not be recognized by other institutions.
• Divisions may designate specific courses which can only be graded CR/NC. (Please refer to instructional policies in the college catalog for information about no credit (NC) grade.)

Students may enroll for a course on an audit (N) basis. Auditing a course means that you receive no academic credit for it. While auditing a course, you will have access to all class materials but will likely not need to complete homework or take any exams. Regular tuition and fees are charged. The N does not carry decimal points. To audit a class, you must have the instructor’s permission.

Grades are available approximately five days after the quarter ends through the ctcLink Student Portal. See the Academic Calendar for exact dates.

Quarterly grades and unofficial transcripts can be accessed using the ctcLink Student Portal. Grades will not be mailed.

Review our Academic Standards Progress Policy  for information about support and intervention for students whose GPA falls below 2.0.

Highline uses a numerical grading system to measure and evaluate student performance. Instructors are responsible for measuring and evaluating the performance of their students and must provide a course syllabus that clearly defines the grading requirements for each course.

Instructors may report numerical grade points within a range of 0.7 to 4.0, in 0.1 increments. The grade of 0.0 does not satisfy the minimum academic standards for earning credit.

Numerical grades measure achievement according to the following standards:

• 3.5 – 4.0   Highest achievement
• 2.5 – 3.4   High achievement
• 2.0 – 2.4   Satisfactory achievement
• 0.7 – 1.9    Minimum achievement
• 0.0            Failing, No Credit

In order to accommodate students waiting to register for a course, instructors have the discretion to initiate a withdrawal at the end of the first week of the quarter (or its equivalent for summer). This withdrawal may be authorized when students do not attend at least 60 percent of the class time during the first week. Students should contact their instructors to request an exception to this policy so that in the event of unavoidable absences they will not be withdrawn.

A grade may be changed only by the instructor and is time limited to the next quarter (excluding the summer quarter) after the grade has been officially tendered to the student. The procedure does not apply to “I” grades.

You may repeat a class taken at Highline in order to improve your skills or grade. The Repeat option cannot be used once degree or certificate credentials are posted to your transcript.

• To repeat a class, you must re-register and pay all necessary fees.
• Each grade received will remain on your transcript, but only the grade awarded is used in computing your GPA.
• You must fill out separate forms for each quarter.
• If you have repeated a class, you must request the repeat be applied by submitting the Grade Repeat Policy form to the Registration Office or registration@highline.edu
• Submit the form after you have completed your repeat class. Use this form to request the removal of a repeated class from GPA Computation.

You may repeat a course taken at Highline in order to improve your GPA. Each grade received will appear on your transcript. Only your highest grade will be used in computing your GPA.

You will receive credit for each course only once. Repeats can only be applied twice for the same course (taken no more than three times).

• Each grade received will remain on your transcript; the highest grade received will be used to compute your GPA.
• When transferring credits to other colleges/universities, repeats may or may not be recognized.
• The repeat process does not apply to grade symbols: “I”, “N”, “W”, or “NC”.
• The Grade Repeat option cannot be used once degree or certificate credentials are posted to your transcript.

(Approved by Faculty Senate, June 2, 2010)

This policy provides an option for qualified students to set aside or exclude quarters previously attempted or completed from the GPA when the coursework does not reflect their true academic ability.

With written approval of the adviser, students who meet the conditions outlined below may petition the Registrar to exclude from their transcript grades that negatively affect their cumulative credits and cumulative GPA. All courses and credits prior to the selected quarter will be excluded.

Option 1

• Student has not been enrolled for at least 1 year.
• Student must have completed 15 credits with a 2.5 GPA or better (since returning to Highline).

Option 2

• Student has less than a year’s break in enrollment.
• Student must have completed 30 credits with a 2.5 GPA or better (after the most recent quarter to be excluded).

Further conditions:

Students cannot select individual courses or quarters for forgiveness. For example, if a student wishes to exclude courses in which failing or poor grades were received during the fourth quarter at Highline, all work taken during the first four quarters would be excluded.

Credits and grade points for excluded courses will be changed to zero (0) and will not be included in the Highline credit total and GPA. The course number, course title, and original grade will remain on the transcript.

Once forgiven, courses and credits may not be reinstated, may not be used as prerequisites, and may not apply toward degree requirements. Students will be allowed to have Grade Forgiveness applied once.

Financial Aid does not honor Grade Forgiveness.

Although Highline College makes provisions for Grade Forgiveness, students should not assume that other colleges to which they transfer will compute the GPA in the same manner. Only the Highline record can be set aside; the College cannot set aside records from other colleges.

Grade Forgiveness Request forms are available at the Registration Office, Building 6, lower level.

The ‘*’ asterisk symbol is used when the reporting of a grade is not required (i.e., a community service course), or when a grade has not been submitted to the Registrar by a faculty member in time for inclusion on a student’s grade report or transcript.

The CR symbol indicates credit with a 2.0 or above grade.

Incomplete. An instructor may issue an I when the following conditions apply:

• A student was still registered for the class after the official withdrawal date;
• A student satisfactorily (grade of 2.0 or higher) completed at least 80 percent of the total coursework but was not able to complete all coursework due to extenuating circumstances;
• A student and instructor have agreed on a date of completion to occur within the following 12 months;
• A student and instructor have completed an “Incomplete Grade Contract” and submitted to Registration.

The ‘I’ will be converted to a numerical grade or CR/NC upon completion of the course requirements. If the I is not removed through the completion of the requirements after 12 months, it will be converted to the grade earned, as shown on the “Incomplete Grade Contract.” This converted grade may not be changed. If an I grade is submitted and the instructor and student fail to file an Incomplete Grade Contract within one quarter, the grade will automatically convert to a 0.0.

Incomplete Grade Change Contract

To audit a course means to participate without evaluation. The “N” grade is not counted for college credit, nor is it computed in the GPA. Students may enroll for a course on an audit (N) basis. Regular tuition and fees are charged. The N does not carry decimal points.

NC indicates a student did not satisfactorily complete course requirements at the 2.0 level to receive credit. The NC grade is used only for courses designated by an instructional division as CR/NC, and carries no GPA calculation.

For credit courses, the grade of “P” may be assigned and is defined as a grade point average of 2.0 or higher. The “P” grade is not used to complete the GPA. Note: Upon transfer, some educational institutions may convert the “P” grade to a “C” for purposes of grade point average calculation.

The symbol R prefixed by a numerical grade or CR, such as 3.2R, indicates the class was repeated. See statement on repeating a course following this section. This is applicable for Legacy grade information only.

The W grade indicates that the student withdrew from the course, in keeping with college withdrawal policies. The W carries no credit, indicates neither passing nor nonpassing work at the time of withdrawal and does not affect GPA. Some courses, identified in the catalog and/or quarterly class schedule, require group participation and are not eligible for a W without the instructor’s permission.

If a withdrawal to the registrar’s office is submitted on or before the 15th instructional day of the quarter (an equivalent date will be listed in the quarterly class schedule for summer) the class will not be reported on the transcript.