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Credit/No Credit Grade

ASK A QUESTION OR SUBMIT FEEDBACK ON THIS POLICY

Effective Date: Fall 2025
Last Reviewed: Spring 2025
Last Revised: Fall 2016
Next Review: Fall 2035

Policy Statement

Students who wish to pursue an unfamiliar field or otherwise expand their educational knowledge beyond the requirements of any declared academic program may request to take certain undergraduate courses with a Credit/No Credit grade.

Students may not request the Credit/No Credit grading option for the following types of courses:

  • Courses used to meet requirements in a student's major, minor, concentration or certificate program, or to meet college requirements for the student's degree.
  • Courses designated as Kent Core (general education requirement).
  • Courses numbered 00000-09999 (developmental).
  • Courses numbered 50000-89999 (graduate).
  • Courses graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U).

Credit/no credit grading is subject to the following conditions:

  1. Students whose overall GPA is below 2.000 after their most recent graded term are not eligible to request the Credit/No Credit grading option.
  2. Instructors will not be informed of students’ selection of the Credit/No Credit grading option. Regular passing letter grades (e.g., B, C, D) that are reported by the instructor will be converted to a Credit (Y) grade. Letter grades of F (Fail), NF (Never Attended–Fail) and SF (Stopped Attending–Fail) reported by the instructor will be converted to a No Credit (Z) grade.
  3. Under no circumstances will Credit (Y) or No Credit (Z) grades be converted to regular grades.
  4. Students who earn Credit (Y) grades and later declare a major, minor, concentration or certificate program may apply the courses with the Credit (Y) grade to program requirements, if applicable, but all subsequent required coursework must be completed with regular grading.
  5. A maximum 12 credit hours of Credit (Y) grades may be applied toward a declared undergraduate program.
  6. Credit (Y) and No Credit (Z) grades are not used in computing grade point averages and do not satisfy specific required grades (other than the minimum D grade) in course prerequisites and program requirements.

Reason For Policy

The purpose of this option is to foster experimentation by providing students with the opportunity to explore a broad range of coursework outside of their major or comfort zone without affecting their grade point average.  This encourages intellectual curiosity and broadens their educational experience.

Procedures

  • To request the Credit/No Credit grading option, students must submit a Credit/No Credit Grade Request form to the Office of the University Registrar.
  • Students may not change grading options, including Credit/No Credit, after the final day of schedule adjustments for that term.
  • Information about schedule adjustment deadlines, which includes deadlines for changes to grading options, is located in the Registration policy in the University Catalog.

Forms/Instructions

Additional Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Will my professor know that I am taking their class for credit/no-credit?
    No. Instructors will not know your grading status has changed and will continue to submit grades as they normally would. Once submitted, the grades are converted to Credit (Y) or No Credit (Z) in the system.
  2. How do I know if I can take a course for credit/no-credit?
    It is always good to consult with your advisor before requesting the Credit/No Credit grade. You may not take any courses with a Kent Core designation, are developmental (00000-09999) or graduate level (50000-89999), graded S/U or will be used satisfy a requirement in your major, minor, concentration or certificate. You can refer to your GPS audit to see if the course meets one of those requirements.
  3. How do I request to take a course for credit/no-credit?
    The Credit/No Credit Request Form is searchable on the Forms and Requests website. Make sure to check the deadlines to request (last day to add the course).

Additional FAQ: Credit/No Credit Grade

Definitions

Developmental courses: A course that is below college level and cannot be applied toward a certificate or degree program. At Kent State, course numbers that begin with a "0" are designated as developmental.

Flashline: The web-based portal (entryway) for Kent State students, faculty, staff and alumni. For help with FlashLine, contact the university Helpdesk at 330-672-HELP or visit the FlashLine information website.

Office of the University Registrar: The university office that plans and oversees academic scheduling, academic records, credit transfer, graduation, transcript processing, and system support and compliance reporting./p>

Schedule adjustment: A change to a class schedule for a student who has already enrolled in at least one course for the term. See the registration deadlines and important dates on the Financial, Billing and Enrollment Center website.

Related Information

Revision History

Amended August 2025: Revised policy updates name, from "Pass/Fail" to “Credit/No Credit” and removed clause that limits students to one course per semester while keeping the existing overall limit of 12 credit hours.

Amended August 2016: Revised policy removed from exclusions courses in student's major department and courses used to meet requirements in a student's supporting area. Revisions also clarified that graduate courses and courses graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory are not options for Pass/Fail grading.

Amended August 1983: Revised policy removed Pass/Fail grade option for general education courses.

Amended August 1979: Revised to reflect the university’s conversion from quarters to semesters. Overall limit of Pass/Fail courses allowed revised from 24 quarter credit hours to 12 semester credit hours.

Amended September 1973: Policy approved to continue with one revision: reduction in overall limit of Pass/Fail courses, from 48 to 24 quarter credit hours.

Effective September 1968: Established a policy to permit pass/fail grading for a trial period of four years with the following limitations: students must be full-time undergraduate; maximum one course per quarter for a total of 48 quarter credit hours; instructors do not know if the Pass/Fail grade is selected; Pass/Fail grading is not permitted in first-year English course and major coursework; and a Pass/Fail grade cannot be converted to a regular grade.