Academics and Regulations
To encourage a positive learning environment and high academic standards, universities establish specific scholastic requirements and community rules. At UAF, academic regulations address issues such as grading, academic standing, and student rights and responsibilities. Since policies change from time to time, it's important for students to stay informed about current requirements. By enrolling at UAF, a student agrees to abide by university rules, regulations and academic standards.
Communication via E-Mail
UAF uses e-mail to communicate with students about many regulations, requirements and responsibilities. E-mail is often the only way some information is distributed so it's important for you to regularly check your university e-mail account or to forward mail from your UAF account to an account you check frequently. The university automatically assigns you an official UAF e-mail account when you first register for classes (except students whose primary registration is through the Bristol Bay, Chukchi, Interior-Aleutians, Kuskokwim or Northwest campuses). You're responsible for knowing — and when appropriate, acting on — the contents of all university communications sent to your official UAF e-mail account. If you want to receive university communications at a different e-mail address, you need to forward e-mail from your assigned UAF account to an e-mail address of your choice. You can easily do this online at: www.alaska.edu/oit/email/mail_forwarding.xml.
Undergraduate students — Class standing is determined by the total credits you have earned.
| Freshman 0–29 credits | Sophomore 30–59 credits |
| Junior 60–89 credits | Senior 90 credits |
Transfer students are given class standing based on the number of transfer credits accepted by UAF. Non-degree students are registered without class standing.
Graduate students — Students are given the class standing of "graduate" only after being officially admitted to a master's or doctoral program.
Full- or Part-time Status/Study Load
Undergraduate students — Undergraduate students registered for 12 or more semester credits are classified as full-time students. To complete an undergraduate program in four years, you must earn 16 or 17 credits each semester. You may enroll in up to 18 credits per semester without special permission. To enroll in 19 credits or more, you need a 3.0 cumulative GPA and an overload approval from your advisor.
Credits carried at any UAF unit are used to determine study load hours and full time or part time classification. Audited courses, courses taken for credit by examination and year-long correspondence study courses are not included in the study load computation.
Graduate students — A graduate student who is registered for 9 or more semester credits, with 3 or more at the 600-level, is classified as a full-time student (audited credits are not counted toward workload). You may enroll in up to 14 credits per semester without special permission. To enroll in 15 – 19 credits you must be in good standing and obtain an overload approval from your advisor and department chair. Enrollment in 20 or more graduate credits will be allowed only in extraordinary circumstances, and requires good standing and overload approval from your advisor, department chair, dean and the dean of the graduate school.
Except in unusual circumstances, enrollment in the fall/spring semesters is limited to 1 credit per week. Enrollment in the three-week summer session is limited to 3 – 4 credits per session, and enrollment in the six-week summer session is limited to 6 – 8 credits per session.
Credits carried at any UAF department are considered in determining study load hours and full time or part time classification. Courses that are audited are not included in the study load computation.
Undergraduates only — The credit/no-credit option encourages students to explore areas of interest not necessarily related to their major. This option may be used for one undesignated elective (an elective that is not specifically required for your major) each semester. The deadline for choosing the credit/no-credit option is the third Friday after the first day of instruction for a semester. The instructor does not know your status in the course, and you complete the course the same way as other students in the class. Credit for the course is awarded if your performance is at the C grade or higher; if your performance falls below that level, the course will not appear on your academic record. In either case, the course will not be included in any GPA calculations. If credit is granted, a CR grade will be entered for the course.
Under the credit/no-credit option, students may take undesignated elective courses or courses to meet the minimum credit requirements for a degree. Major or minor requirements and those specified as foundation courses are not allowed.
Students who want to enroll in one or more courses for informational purposes may only register as an auditor if space is available and auditing is permitted in the class. You pay the standard credit fees for the course, but the credits are not included in the computation of study load for full-time/part-time determination or for overload status.
The requirement, acceptance and review of work, and lab privileges are at the discretion of the instructor. A grade of AU (audit) is granted to students who complete an audited course, but no credit is awarded. Audited courses do not apply toward degree requirements, and they will not transfer to other institutions.
When you register you should indicate on the registration form your desire to audit a course. Students who want to change from audit to credit must request the change before the deadline to add a course. Requests made after the third Friday after the first day of instruction must be approved by the instructor of the course. All changes must be made before the deadline for student-initiated withdrawals.
Instructors set the requirements under which an AU grade is to be recorded, and they must submit AU for students who satisfy requirements. Auditors not receiving an AU grade receive a W grade. If you have audited a class, you cannot request local credit by exam for that class for a period of at least one year.
The add/drop process may be used to change from credit status to audit status for a class. The change must be made by the end of the second full week of instruction by following the add/drop process. Changes after this date require approval by the instructor of the course. For degree-seeking students an advisor's signature is also required. You may not change from credit to audit after the last day for student-initiated withdrawals.
Grading System and Grade Point Average Computation
All course grades are letter grades unless otherwise specified in the class schedule. The method of grading (letter or pass/fail) is an integral part of the course structure and is included in the course description. Instructors are expected to state their grading policies in writing at the beginning of each course. Grades appearing on academic records are:
A An honor grade, indicates originality and independent work, a thorough mastery of the subject and the satisfactory completion of more work than is regularly required.
B Indicates outstanding ability above the average level of performance.
C Indicates a satisfactory or average level of performance.
D The lowest passing grade, indicates work of below-average quality and performance.
F Indicates failure. All F grades, including those earned in pass/fail courses, are included in the GPA calculations.
P Pass — The pass grade indicates satisfactory completion of course requirements at either the undergraduate or graduate level. A pass grade does not affect your GPA but credits earned with pass grades may meet degree requirements and may be used as a measure of satisfactory progress. Satisfactory performance is the equivalent of a C grade or better in undergraduate course work and B grade or better in graduate courses. The entire class must be graded pass/fail and the grading system is noted in the class schedule.
Cr Indicates credit was given under the credit-no-credit option.
DF Deferred — This designation is used for courses such as theses and special projects, which require more than one semester to complete. It indicates that course requirements cannot be completed by the end of the semester. Credit may be withheld without penalty until the course requirements are met within an approved time.
AU Audit — A registration status indicating that you have enrolled for informational instruction only. No academic credit is granted. You may be given a W if you fail to attend a course you are auditing.
W Withdrawn — Indicates withdrawal from a course after the first two weeks of a semester.
I Incomplete — Indicates that you have not been able to complete the course during the scheduled time. An incomplete is a temporary grade used to indicate that the student has satisfactorily completed (C or better) the majority of work in a course but for personal reasons beyond the student's control, such as sickness, has not been able to complete the course during the regular semester. Normally, an incomplete is assigned in a case when the student is current in the class until at least the last three weeks of the semester or summer session. Negligence or indifference are not acceptable reasons for an "I" grade.
Instructors include a statement of work required of the student to complete the course at the time the "I" grade is assigned and a copy of the notice of the incomplete grade will be sent to the dean of the school or college in which the course is given.
An incomplete must be made up within one year or it will automatically be changed to an "F" grade. The "I" grade is not computed in the student's grade point average until it has been changed to a regular letter grade by the instructor or until one year has elapsed, at which time it will be computed as an "F." A senior cannot graduate with an "I" grade in either a university or major course requirement. To determine a senior's grade point average at graduation, the "I" grade will be computed as a failing grade.
NB No Basis — Instructors may award a No Basis (NB) grade if there insufficient student progress and/or attendance for evaluation to occur. No credit is given, nor is "NB" calculated in the GPA. This is a permanent grade and may not be used to substitute for the Incomplete (I). It can't be removed by later completing outstanding work.
NS Not Submitted — Grade not submitted by instructor.
The letter grades A, B, C and D may include a "+" or "-" to indicate that a student's level of performance is slightly higher or lower than that of the letter grade alone.
- Computing your GPA
Your grade point average (GPA) is a weighted numerical average of the grades you earn in your courses at UAF. To compute your GPA, divide the total number of credits you have attempted into the total number of grade points you have earned. Grade points are calculated by multiplying the number of grade points awarded, according to the chart below, by the number of credits attempted for the course. The following grades are figured in your GPA: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D- and F. Grades of I, DF, W, P, AU and CR do not carry grade points and do not affect your GPA.
| Grade | Grade points per credit |
| A+ | 4.0 |
| A | 4.0 |
| A- | 3.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 |
| B | 3.0 |
| B- | 2.7 |
| C+ | 2.3 |
| C | 2.0 |
| C- | 1.7 |
| D+ | 1.3 |
| D | 1.0 |
| D- | 0.7 |
| F | 0.0 |
| EXAMPLE OF GRADE POINT AVERAGE COMPUTATION | ||||
| Course | Credits | Grade | Credits x Grade points per credit | = Grade points |
| BIOL F111X | 4 | A | 4 cr x 4 pts | 16 |
| COMM F131X | 3 | D | 3 cr x 1 pt | 3 |
| ENGL F111X | 3 | C | 3 cr x 2 pts | 6 |
| MATH F107X | 3 | B | 3 cr x 3 pts | 9 |
| HIST F131 | 3 | F | 3 cr x 0 pts | 0 |
| Total | 16 | 34 | ||
| 34 grade points ÷ 16 credits = 2.13 GPA | ||||
Non-credit courses, transfer credits and credit by examination do not affect the GPA calculations. Your "graduating GPA" is your cumulative grade point average at the time of graduation. If, after earning a bachelor's degree, you take more classes from UAF as a non-degree student, grades for those courses won't be factored into your official graduating GPA. The exception is students who are officially admitted to a second degree program.
- Repeating Courses
All grades (original and retakes) for a course completed at UAF are included on your academic record, but only the last grade earned for a course is computed in your GPA unless the course is one that can be repeated for credit.