Grade Policies/Credits

Programs will monitor student academic progress at the end of each term. Any student who receives one or more grades of “C” or lower in any program, research or doctoral core courses in any one term will be placed on probation in coordination with NLU's Academic Advising Center. Doctoral students on probation, their respective program chairs, their dissertation committee chairs, and their Graduate Academic Advisor will receive official probation notification from the NCE Doctoral Office. Students will then be provided appropriate resources, academic counseling and information pertaining to recovery from probation. Probation continues until the student completes all doctoral coursework. A student who receives one or more grades of “C” or lower in two terms will be evaluated as a candidate for withdrawal from the program. If the student has already registered for the next term, the student will be charged tuition in accordance with published University policy. Students may appeal such decisions to the individual program chair and then to the Academic Policies Committee following the University Policy on Academic Appeals. Students must have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher to fulfill their degree requirements. Courses in which the student has received grades of “D” or lower will not apply toward the degree. 

A student who accumulates one or more in-progress/incomplete (“I”) grade for two consecutive terms will not be allowed to register for a subsequent term until in-progress course requirements are completed and the “I” grades are updated. When the “I” grades for at least one quarter are updated to letter grades and posted, the student should contact his or her program chair to have the registration hold lifted. “I” grades are issued following the In-Progress Grade Policy.