The grade of Incomplete used on the final grade report indicates that a substantial portion of the course work has been satisfactorily but not entirely completed as of the end of the semester. The grade of Incomplete may be given only when the completed portion of the student's work in the course is of passing quality. Instructors may award the grade of Incomplete upon a showing of such hardship to a student as would render it unjust to hold the student to the time limits previously established for the completion of his or her work.

Should the faculty member agree to assign a grade of Incomplete, he or she also has the right to set a specific date (up to one year) by which all unfinished work must be completed. Upon submission of the completed work, the faculty member files a Removal of Incomplete form with the Office of the Registrar. The student will receive a mailing from the Office of the Registrar which shows the new grade and the updated cumulative grade point average (gpa).

Please note that by agreeing to assign a grade of Incomplete, the instructor is not required to give the student a year to finish the work. The instructor has the right to set a shorter-term deadline as deemed appropriate. If the student has not satisfactorily completed the work by the deadline established by the instructor, the instructor should send a Removal of Incomplete form to the Office of the Registrar with the appropriate grade on the completed work.

If the work has not been completed and a grade assigned within a year from the end of the semester in which the Incomplete was awarded, the Office of the Registrar will automatically change the grade to an F. Both the student and the faculty member will receive notification that this change is pending and should take steps immediately to resolve the Incomplete.

In some cases, instructors recommend or require students to attend another term of the course (or a portion thereof) in order to remove the Incomplete. In such cases, students should NOT re-enroll in the course. Instead, the student should make arrangements with the original instructor and any new instructor (if they are different) to sit in on the course or portion of the course as required by the instructor(s). At the end of the term, the original instructor would file the Removal of Incomplete with the Office of the Registrar. If the subsequent work was completed with another instructor, the second instructor shall provide the appropriate information to the original instructor who is responsible for the assignment of the grade.

If the original instructor is unavailable or no longer with the university, the student should contact the chair of the department which offered the course for assistance.

A student who is required to attend the course in a subsequent term should understand that sitting in on the course or otherwise making up the Incomplete does not count as part of the student's full-time or part-time load for financial aid purposes or for loan deferments.

In some cases, after receiving an Incomplete, the student may wish to withdraw from the course. This requires the signatures of the instructor and the student's dean on a Removal of Incomplete form.

Any Incomplete still on the student's record at time of degree will be "frozen." This assumes that the course in which the student received the Incomplete was not needed to complete the degree. "Frozen" incompletes are not subject to the automatic conversion to F after one year and will remain as incompletes on the student's record.

In rare cases at the end of the initial one year period, the student may ask the instructor to extend the Incomplete for an additional fixed period of time. If the instructor agrees, he or she should submit a grade of IX on the Removal of Incomplete form. This action will block the automatic change to F after one year.

The Removal of Incomplete forms are available from the Recorder of each school. These forms are given to the faculty members and students never handle the forms.