Dear Students,
I am writing to share important information clarifying grade designations for undergraduate and graduate courses and impacting grades and potentially your financial aid awards, effective immediately.
Federal regulations require that GW has a method to confirm that students engage in a course at least once in a semester, that changes to enrollment status (like withdrawals) are reported in a timely manner, and that unwarranted federal aid is returned to the federal government promptly.
It is important that GW’s course grade submission instructions and withdrawal policies include consistent definitions for when to award students non-passing grades or administrative notations (such as “Z” - Unauthorized Withdrawal, “F” - Failing Grade, or “I” - Incomplete). GW must also consistently record the date that a student stops engaging in a course.
In November, the Faculty Senate voted to approve a resolution that helps provide greater clarity on these issues and ensures compliance with federal regulations. The resolution endorses standardized definitions of non-passing grades and administrative notations to be assigned to students based on their academic engagement in a class, ensures that our students understand the potential impact of enrollment status changes on their financial aid, and minimizes the administrative burden on our faculty and students.
At the bottom of this email, you will find, in accordance with this resolution::
- Information about the clarified definitions for the non-passing grades and administrative notations, and
- The standards by which student academic engagement is defined in a class when determining the awarding of “Z” and “I”.
Please note that the resolution has no impact on how faculty award or denote the awarding of letter grades in the “D,” “C,” “B” or “A” range. The grade of “F,” however, has been more clearly defined as an earned failing grade.
The university will continue to disseminate this information moving forward so that faculty and students are aware of these designations and the potential impact on student financial aid awards.
If you have questions about grades or administrative notations, please contact the Office of the Registrar at registrar
gwu [dot] edu (registrar[at]gwu[dot]edu). Questions about how this change could potentially affect your financial aid can be directed to the Office of Student Financial Assistance at finaidgwu [dot] edu (finaid[at]gwu[dot]edu). Thank you for your attention to this important information.
John Lach
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Clarified Non-Passing Grade and Administrative Notation Definitions
Visit the University Bulletin website at the link below to review grade and administrative notation definitions for “NE” (Never Engaged), “W” (Withdrawal), “Z” (Unauthorized Withdrawal), “F” Grade, and “I” (Incomplete). These definitions are the same in the Undergraduate and Graduate Grading System sections of the University Bulletin.
Please note, “NE” (Never Engaged), “W” (Authorized Withdrawal), “Z” (Unauthorized Withdrawal), and “I” (Incomplete) administrative notations can have an impact on a student’s current financial aid and satisfactory academic progress for future aid eligibility. Different types of financial aid may have different enrollment requirements for eligibility. Therefore, dropping or withdrawing from courses may impact financial aid awards.
Defining Academic Engagement
Faculty must enter a last date of academic engagement when entering a “Z” (Unauthorized Withdrawal) or an “I” (Incomplete). For determining the last date of academic engagement in a course, any of the following activities will count as academic engagement in a course. This information is posted on the Office of the Registrar website here.
- Student attendance in an in-person course.
- Documented student participation in an interactive tutorial, webinar, or other interactive or computer-assisted instruction.
- Student submission of an academic assignment or an exam.
- An email from the student or other documentation showing student-initiated contact with a faculty member.
- A posting by the student showing the student's participation in an online study group that is assigned by the institution, or a posting by the student in a discussion forum showing the student's participation in an online discussion about academic matters.
- An email from the student about the academic subject studied in the course.