Credit / No Credit
The Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) grading option allows students to take courses outside their major for exploration without impacting their GPA. Students must declare CR/NC status by the designated deadline each semester and cannot later convert to letter grades. Credit is awarded for C- performance or better, but CR grades do not calculate into GPA. No Credit grades also don't affect GPA but count as attempted hours.
Understand restrictions on which courses qualify for CR/NC, how it impacts degree requirements, and potential implications for graduate school or professional programs.
Credit/No Credit Policy Overview
The CR/NC grading option provides an opportunity to explore courses outside your comfort zone or to take courses for personal enrichment without risking your GPA. This option recognizes that education extends beyond grades and that students should feel free to challenge themselves in unfamiliar disciplines without fear of GPA consequences. However, the CR/NC option comes with restrictions and limitations designed to ensure your transcript still reflects your academic performance in courses related to your major and core competencies.
Purpose of CR/NC: The policy exists to encourage academic exploration, reduce anxiety about taking challenging courses outside your major, support breadth in your education, and allow personal enrichment through coursework without GPA pressure. CR/NC is not intended for courses in which you're uncertain of your performance or as a way to avoid poor grades in required courses.
How It Works: When you elect CR/NC grading for a course, you attend class and complete all assignments just as you would in any course. Your instructor grades your work using the standard A-F scale. However, rather than receiving a letter grade on your transcript, you receive either CR (credit) for performance at C- or better, or NC (no credit) for performance below C-. Neither CR nor NC calculates into your GPA.
Timing of Election: You must declare CR/NC status for a course by the published deadline each semester, typically midway through the term around the same time as the withdrawal deadline. This deadline allows you to assess your performance in the course before committing to CR/NC grading.
Eligible Courses for CR/NC Option
Not all courses can be taken CR/NC. The policy restricts CR/NC grading to courses that don't directly serve your major or foundational educational requirements.
Allowed for CR/NC: Courses eligible for CR/NC grading typically include free electives outside your major and minor, courses taken for personal interest or skill development, courses exploring potential majors before declaration, and certain general education courses (varies by category and program, check with your advisor). CR/NC is specifically intended for courses where exploring the subject matter matters more than the grade you receive.
Your Instructor Doesn't Know: When you elect CR/NC grading, your instructor continues grading you normally using letter grades. The CR/NC designation affects only what appears on your transcript, not how you're evaluated in the course. Your instructor may not even know you've chosen CR/NC unless you inform them.
Check Before Declaring: Before committing to CR/NC, verify with your advisor that the specific course qualifies for this grading option under your program's policies. Requirements vary between programs, and what's eligible for one major may not be eligible for another.
Courses Excluded from CR/NC
Several categories of courses cannot be taken CR/NC, reflecting the importance of demonstrated performance in these areas:
Major Requirements: All courses required for your major, including core courses, required electives, and prerequisite courses for your major, must be taken for letter grades. This ensures your transcript reflects actual performance in your field of study and provides meaningful information to graduate schools and employers about your expertise.
General Education Core Areas: While policies vary by institution, many general education categories require letter grades, particularly in foundational areas such as composition and writing, mathematics and quantitative reasoning, and other skills considered essential to all graduates regardless of major. Check with your advisor about which specific general education courses allow CR/NC grading.
Minor Requirements: Courses counting toward a declared minor typically must be taken for letter grades, just like major requirements. Minors demonstrate competency in a secondary field, requiring graded performance.
Prerequisite Courses: Courses serving as prerequisites for other required courses generally cannot be taken CR/NC, as subsequent courses assume a certain level of mastery that graded performance helps verify. Graduate-Level Courses: Graduate courses taken by undergraduates typically cannot be taken CR/NC, as graduate programs have different grading standards and expectations.
Deadline to Declare CR/NC
Timing matters critically in the CR/NC decision. You must declare your intention to take a course CR/NC by the published deadline each semester.
When Deadlines Are Set: The CR/NC declaration deadline typically falls around mid-semester, often coinciding with or shortly after the course withdrawal deadline. This timing allows you to gauge your performance in the course before committing to CR/NC grading. Check the academic calendar each semester for exact dates, as they vary.
Declaration Process: To elect CR/NC grading for a course, log into your student portal and access the registration or grading options section. Select the course for which you want CR/NC grading and confirm your selection. Some institutions require advisor approval for CR/NC elections. Verify the process at your institution before the deadline.
No Late Elections: The deadline is firm. You cannot elect CR/NC grading after the published deadline passes, even if you have compelling reasons. Plan ahead and make your decision before the deadline to avoid losing this option.
Strategic Timing: Wait as close to the deadline as possible to make your CR/NC decision. This allows you to see your grades on midterm exams and assignments, giving you informed basis for the decision. However, don't wait so long that you miss the deadline.
Minimum Grade for Credit
The performance threshold for receiving CR (credit) versus NC (no credit) determines whether the course counts toward your degree. C- Standard: At most institutions, you must earn the equivalent of C- or better to receive CR. Performance of D+, D, D-, or F results in
- The C- threshold ensures that courses taken CR/NC still meet minimum standards for degree credit.
How Your Performance Is Evaluated: Your instructor grades your work using the standard A-F scale throughout the semester. At the end of the term, if your earned grade is C- or higher, your transcript shows CR. If your earned grade is below C-, your transcript shows NC. You never see the actual letter grade on your transcript for CR/NC courses.
Verification: If you want to know your actual letter grade in a CR/NC course, ask your instructor. They can tell you what grade you earned, even though this grade doesn't appear on your transcript. Some students want this information for personal knowledge or for contexts where explaining your performance matters.
Standards Don't Change: Don't assume CR/NC means you can do less work. Your instructor holds you to the same standards as students taking the course for a letter grade. You're simply choosing different transcript notation for acceptable performance.
Impact on GPA Calculation
The primary benefit of CR/NC grading is its neutral effect on GPA, but understanding exactly how this works is important.
CR Does Not Affect GPA: Courses in which you earn CR count toward your total completed credit hours but do not factor into your GPA calculation. A CR course with 3 credit hours adds 3 hours to your degree progress without contributing any quality points (the numerical value used to calculate GPA). This is advantageous when taking courses outside your areas of strength.
NC Does Not Affect GPA: Similarly, NC grades do not affect your GPA. However, NC hours count as attempted hours, which matters for satisfactory academic progress (SAP) calculations for financial aid. An NC course contributes zero credit hours to your degree completion but shows as hours attempted.
Example Calculation: If you have a 3.4 GPA after completing 60 credit hours, and you take a 3-credit CR course, you'll have 63 total credit hours but the same quality points. Your GPA remains 3.4. If that course had been graded and you earned a B (3.0), it would have lowered your GPA slightly. If you earned an A (4.0), it would have raised your GPA slightly. CR keeps your GPA stable regardless of your performance (as long as you earn C- or better).
Impact on Academic Standing
While CR/NC courses don't affect GPA, your academic standing is determined by GPA. Therefore, CR grades have indirect effects on standing.
Maintaining Good Standing: If you're in good standing, CR courses help you maintain that standing by not lowering your GPA. This can be strategic if you're taking a course where you're uncertain of your ability to earn a strong grade.
Recovering from Probation: If you're on academic probation and need to raise your GPA to return to good standing, CR courses don't help.
Since CR doesn't factor into GPA, it doesn't improve your GPA. Students on probation should take courses for letter grades and earn strong grades to raise their GPA.
Credit Hour Completion: Academic standing also considers the pace at which you're completing degree requirements. CR grades count as completed hours, supporting timely progress. NC grades, however, count as attempted but not completed hours, which can negatively impact your completion rate.
Impact on Dean's List and Honors
CR/NC courses affect eligibility for academic honors and Dean's List recognition.
Dean's List Calculation: Dean's List eligibility typically requires a minimum GPA (often 3.5 or 3.7) and completion of a minimum number of graded credit hours (often 12-15) in a semester. CR courses do not count as graded credit hours for Dean's List purposes. If you take 15 hours but 3 are CR, only 12 graded hours count toward Dean's List eligibility. Cumulative Honors: Graduation honors (cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude) are based on cumulative GPA. Since CR courses don't factor into GPA, they neither help nor hurt your honors eligibility.
However, they represent missed opportunities to boost GPA through strong grades.
Strategic Considerations: If you're close to Dean's List or honors thresholds, taking courses CR/NC may not be strategic. Those courses could provide opportunities to strengthen your GPA if you perform well.
Limitations on Number of CR/NC Courses
Most institutions limit the total number of credit hours you can take CR/NC during your undergraduate career.
Typical Limits: Common limits range from 12-24 credit hours of CR/NC courses total across your entire undergraduate program. Some programs may have more restrictive limits (6-12 hours) or more generous limits (30+ hours). Check your specific program's policies.
Per Semester Limits: Some institutions also limit CR/NC hours per semester, such as allowing no more than one CR/NC course per term. These limits ensure your transcript predominantly reflects graded performance.
Rationale for Limits: Limits exist because transcripts should demonstrate actual performance in most of your coursework. If too many courses are CR/NC, graduate schools and employers cannot assess your academic abilities effectively. The limits balance exploration with accountability.
Tracking Your Usage: Keep track of how many CR/NC credit hours you've used. Your advisor can help you verify your remaining CR/NC allocation if you're unsure.
Financial Aid and CR/NC Hours
CR/NC courses count toward enrollment status for financial aid purposes but have implications for satisfactory academic progress.
Enrollment Status: CR courses count toward full-time enrollment. If you need 12 hours for full-time status and take 9 hours for grades plus 3 CR hours, you qualify as full-time for financial aid purposes.
SAP Completion Rate: Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for financial aid requires completing a certain percentage of attempted hours (typically 67%). CR courses count as both attempted and completed, supporting your SAP. NC courses count as attempted but not completed, potentially jeopardizing SAP.
GPA Component of SAP: SAP also requires maintaining minimum cumulative GPA. Since CR/NC courses don't affect GPA, they neither help nor hurt this component of SAP, which could be problematic if you need to raise your GPA to regain financial aid eligibility.
Strategic Use for SAP: If you're struggling with SAP, talk to your financial aid advisor before using CR/NC. In some situations, it helps (preventing GPA decline). In others, it hurts (missing chance to improve GPA).
Graduate School Considerations
If you're considering graduate school, understand how CR/NC grades are perceived and how they affect applications.
Graduate School Perspectives: Many graduate programs prefer transcripts showing letter grades in all or most courses, as grades provide more information about academic abilities than CR notations.
Excessive CR/NC hours may raise questions about why you avoided graded evaluation. Graduate programs want to see strong performance in courses related to your intended field of graduate study.
Field-Specific Concerns: Highly competitive programs such as medical school, law school, and doctoral programs in your major field typically expect letter grades in all relevant coursework. Taking major prerequisite courses or courses in your intended graduate field CR/NC can hurt your competitiveness.
GPA Calculations: When graduate programs recalculate GPAs for admission purposes, CR courses are excluded (neither helping nor hurting). If you have many CR courses, your recalculated GPA may be based on fewer credit hours, which can disadvantage you if those graded courses include any poor grades.
Recommendation: If you're serious about graduate school, limit your use of CR/NC to courses clearly outside your field and unrelated to your intended graduate program. Take all courses related to your major, minor, and graduate school prerequisites for letter grades.
Professional School Admission Considerations
Professional schools such as law, medicine, and pharmacy have specific policies about CR/NC courses.
Medical and Dental Schools: Many medical and dental schools do not accept CR/NC grades for prerequisite courses and strongly prefer letter grades for all science courses. The COVID-19 pandemic led some schools to temporarily accept CR/NC for prerequisites taken during that period, but traditional policies have largely resumed. Check requirements for specific schools to which you might apply.
Law Schools: Law school admissions focus heavily on GPA and LSAT scores. CR/NC courses are excluded from LSAC GPA calculations, meaning they neither help nor hurt your law school GPA. However, excessive CR/NC hours may prompt questions during admissions reviews.
Other Professional Programs: Requirements vary by program and institution. If you're considering professional school, research specific prerequisites and policies for programs that interest you. Don't assume CR/NC is acceptable until you verify.
Conservative Approach: When in doubt, take courses for letter grades, especially prerequisites and courses in your major. It's better to have graded performance on your transcript than to later discover your CR/NC elections created barriers to professional school.
Transcript Notation
Understanding how CR/NC grades appear on your transcript helps you make informed decisions about using this option.
What Appears: CR and NC notations appear on your transcript just as letter grades would, but with no grade point attached. For example: "PSY 205 Developmental Psychology, 3 CR, Credits: 3.00, Points: 0.00." Permanence: Once grades are posted, CR/NC notations are permanent. You cannot request conversion to letter grades after the semester ends, even if you performed well and wish you'd taken the course for a grade. Context for Transcript Readers: Graduate schools and employers reviewing your transcript won't know your actual letter grade in CR/NC courses. They'll only know you passed at C- or better. This lack of specificity can be problematic if you actually performed very well (A or B) but readers assume mediocre performance.
Explanation Opportunities: In graduate school applications or job applications, you can explain your use of CR/NC in essays or interviews if necessary. For example, explaining that you took an elective completely outside your field CR/NC to explore new interests without GPA risk is reasonable.
Can You Change from CR/NC to Letter Grade?
The ability to change grading options after declaring CR/NC is limited. Change Deadline: If allowed at your institution, changes from CR/NC back to letter grade must occur before the same deadline for initial CR/NC election. You cannot wait until after final grades are posted to change grading options based on your performance.
No Post-Grade Changes: You absolutely cannot change grading options after final grades are posted. Once you receive CR or NC on your transcript, it's permanent. This means you cannot take a course CR/NC, discover you earned an A, and then convert it to a letter grade to boost your GPA.
Strategic Implications: Because changes aren't allowed after grades post, make your CR/NC decision carefully based on your mid-semester performance and likelihood of earning C- or better, not on post-semester regrets.
Can You Change from Letter Grade to CR/NC?
The deadline and procedures for electing CR/NC apply regardless of your initial registration.
Election Window: You can elect CR/NC for a course that you initially registered for a letter grade, as long as you do so by the published CR/NC deadline. Most students register for courses as letter-graded and only elect CR/NC mid-semester if they're unsure of their performance. Process: Log into your student portal by the deadline and change the grading option for the course. This is typically a simple electronic process, though some institutions require advisor approval.
Strategic Use: Many students wait until mid-semester, assess their performance, and only elect CR/NC if they're at risk of a lower grade than they'd like. This strategy maximizes GPA protection while keeping options open.
Advising Recommendations for CR/NC Use
Your advisor can help you make strategic decisions about when to use CR/NC grading.
Good Uses of CR/NC: Taking courses for personal interest completely outside your major and career field, exploring potential majors before declaration without GPA risk, taking courses that fulfill general education requirements in areas outside your strengths (where allowed), and challenging yourself in difficult courses where learning matters more than grades. These uses align with the policy's intent to encourage exploration.
Poor Uses of CR/NC: Avoiding poor grades in courses related to your major or graduate school plans, hiding mediocre performance in courses where employers or graduate programs expect graded transcripts, taking excessive CR/NC hours that make your transcript less informative, and using CR/NC as a crutch instead of developing skills in challenging areas. These uses undermine the educational purpose of grades and may create future obstacles.
Consult Your Advisor: Before electing CR/NC, discuss your reasoning with your advisor. They can help you think through implications for your goals and advise whether CR/NC is appropriate for your specific situation.
Consider Your Goals: If you're planning graduate or professional school, be very conservative with CR/NC. If you're planning to enter the workforce immediately after graduation, moderate use of CR/NC for genuine exploration is less problematic.
Internship Credit: Students can only receive credit for an internship when enrolled into the internship course.
Questions?
If you have questions about the CR/NC grading option: Department of Mass Communications Phone: (804)-524-5000 Office of the Registrar** (for questions about deadlines and procedures) Phone: (804) 524-5278
The CR/NC option is a tool for academic exploration when used thoughtfully. Make strategic decisions aligned with your educational goals and future plans.