Credit / No Credit Grading

How to check grading setting

1. Log into your portal at my.calpoly.edu
2. Click on "Student Center" from the menu on the left
3. Click on "Academic Progress" from the menu on the left (the graduation cap symbol)
4. Click on "Grades" and adjust to appropriate term by clicking "Change Term" in the top right corner.
   • If the grading basis says "Graded", this means you will receive a letter grade.
   • If the grading basis says "Credit/No Credit", this means the class is automatically set to CR/NC and does not need to be changed. These units do not count toward the 16-unit limit for CR/NC grading.

Check if the deadline to change CR/NC grading has passed

It is important to check if the deadline for credit/no credit has passed.

• Visit the student planning calendar to view the deadline for this quarter.
• All grading selections are finalized at the 80% mark of the quarter (the end of week 8)
• Students can change the grading basis as many times as they'd like up until the deadline.

Reasons to consider CR/NC

• Reducing Stress: To focus on learning the material without the pressure of earning a specific grade.
• Exploring Interests: To take a class outside your major or comfort zone without worrying about how it impacts your GPA.
• Risk Management: If you are unsure about performing well in a challenging course, CR/NC can minimize potential GPA impact.
• Meeting Unit Requirements: To fulfill free elective or unit requirements without needing a letter grade.
• Special Circumstances: If personal challenges (e.g., health issues or unexpected events) might affect their performance.
• If you have any questions, about credit/no credit policies (prerequisites, change of major, options if already reached limit, etc.) please discuss with an advisor before making the decision. Please continue to read all reasons below.

Change of Major

If you are considering changing your major, it is encouraged you look up the policy for both majors. You need to abide by the policies for your current major and not your desired major. All curriculum sheets and flowcharts can be found on flowcharts.calpoly.edu.

• Reference step 2 on the change of major website to view each major's policy and step 3 below.

If you are in an Individualized Change of Major Agreement (ICMA), please reference your ICMA or contact your ICMA coordinator. Some criteria states that you need to complete a specific number of graded units. Specific major criteria can be found on step 2 of the change of major website or reference your email from the department. 

Graduate or Professional School

If you are considering graduate school or professional school, be aware that some programs may have specific grading preferences. To ensure you meet their criteria, we recommend consulting directly with the respective schools or programs you plan to apply to and inquire on credit/no credit grading preferences or implications in their application process.&

Cal Poly Pre-Health Career Advising has additional information to consider Cal Poly Pre health Career Advising.

Impact on GPA and Financial Aid

A CR/NC grade won’t directly affect your GPA. In some cases, choosing CR/NC can help stabilize your GPA, but in others, a letter grade might improve it. Receiving a NC grade can impact your progress to degree and/or Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid.

If you have concerns, connect with an academic advisor or the Financial Aid office. Keep in mind that once the deadline passes, you can’t change your grading option.

Minors

For minor courses, please keep in mind no more than one-third of the courses in a minor can be graded with student-selected Credit/No Credit (CR/NC), except for courses that have mandatory CR/NC grading

You can review the policy in the catalog and on the Academic Programs website. 

Prerequisites

It is encouraged that you review the grade requirement for the next course via the flowchart or the Catalog and discuss the best option with an advisor.

Some courses, like A1, A2, A3, and B4 GEs, require a C- or better to pass the prerequisite and fulfill the requirement of the course. In this instance, CR/NC could be an option since the grading requirement is the same (a C- is the threshold).

However, if the next course in the sequence does not specifically state that the prerequisite is a C- or better, then a D- or higher is a passing grade. If you only need at least a D- for the prerequisite but are taking the class as CR/NC, then you will get NC and the prerequisite will not be met.

 

 

In this case, it might be better to choose a letter grading, especially if you receive Financial Aid. Please contact the Financial Aid Office to discuss any implications if this applies to you. 

Units Eligible to take CR/NC

Students must have a 2.0 CPSLO GPA and can select no more then 8 units (two classes) as CR/NC in one term.

Students have a maximum of 16 units that can be elected for CR/NC

• 4 units can be from GE courses (or a 5 unit GE course), unless double counting in major or support courses
• 4 units can be from Major or Support courses if your department allows it
  • Most majors do not allow Credit/No Credit grading in major or support. Check your college information below.
• The remaining units can be used for free electives

Courses in the "major" include all concentration courses and all types of elective courses listed within the major curriculum: e.g., technical electives, approved electives, concentration approved electives, etc.

If a course in your major double counts or double-fulfills a major or support requirement as well as a GE requirement, the units would apply as major/support CR/NC units and must abide by your major's policy.

Please refer to the catalog for the full policy about CR/NC.

How can I tell if my major or support courses can be selected as CR/NC?

You can view your major's policy at the top of your curriculum sheet.

If you need help finding your catalog year, you can visit your PolyProfile. From your Cal Poly Portal, click on "Academics tab" along the top header and PolyProfile is listed under resources. You will find the catalog year listed under "Career Programs Plans" next to your Bachelor degree information

When is a course not eligible for CR/NC grading?

Student Center will allow you to change the CR/NC grading even if the course is not eligible. Please consider the following two factors:

Reached limit: If you have reached the limit of CR/NC units allowed, the CR/NC grade will be reverted back to a letter grade by the Office of the Registrar

• This does not happen automatically and has to be adjusted manually. Until then, the course is often listed under "course credits not used" in your Degree Progress Report.
• If you notice this, email evaluations@calpoly.edu to ask about your grade

Course not eligible to be selected CR/NC: If a course is not eligible to be selected as CR/NC because your major doesn't allow it or you've used your allowed units, check with an advisor about your options.

• In some instances, a course withdrawal might be appropriate, whereas other times you may want to explore repeating the course. You can review information for withdrawals and repeats below:
  • Withdrawal policy page
  • Course repeat policy page

College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences | CAFES

Instructions or copy here

Major	Policy
Agribusiness	One major or support course may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Agricultural Communications	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Agriculture Science	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Agriculture System Management	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC if it does not double-count for a major/support course.
Animal Science	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
BioResource and Agricultural Engineering	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC if it does not double-count for a major/support course.
Dairy Science	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Environmental Earth and Soil Science	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Environmental Management and Protection	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Food Science	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC if it does not double-count for a major/support course.
Forestry and Fire Science	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Nutrition	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC if it does not double-count for a major/support course.
Plant Sciences	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.
Wine and Viticulture	No major, support, or concentration courses may be selected as CR/NC. One GE course may be CR/NC.

 

College of Architecture and Environmental Design | CAED

None of CAED majors allow CR/NC for major support courses.

College of Engineering | CENG

College of Engineering Credit/No Credit policy

College of Liberal Arts | CLA

College of Liberal Arts Credit/No Credit policy (click on the accordion "what classes can I take credit/no credit (CR/NC)?"

Bailey College of Science and Mathematics | BCSM

Bailey College of Science and Mathematics credit/no credit policy (click on the accordion "what classes can I take credit/no credit (CR/NC)?"

Orfalea College of Business | OCOB

Orfalea College of Business credit/no credit policy

Change Grading to CR/NC

Video tutorial on how to change grading to CR/NC

1. Log into my.calpoly.edu portal
2. Click on "Student Center" from the menu on the left
3. Click on "Enrollment" from the menu on the left (the shopping cart symbol)
   • Select "Edit Enrollment" from the dropdown menu
   • Identify the courses you would like to edit and then click "Edit"
   • Change the course from "Graded" to "Credit/No Credit: Student Op", and then click "Continue"
   • Review information is correct on the next screen and if so, click "Continue"
   • Confirm that the change successfully when through, and then click "Ok". The pop up window will say "The class has been updated". 
   • Confirm once more
     • Click on "Academic Progress" from the menu on the left
     • Click on "Grades"
     • Verify that the grading basis now says "Credit/No Credit"

If you do not see the option to change the grading basis, this could be because the deadline has passed or the course is already CR/NC.

Can I change my grade back to a letter grade?

As long as the deadline has not passed, you can change the grade back to a letter grade. Review information above on how to make this switch.

GWR Courses

Students may take Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR) approved courses as credit/no credit.

If you choose a GWR-certified course, you may take the class for CR/NC, but you must earn a minimum grade of C to satisfy the GWR component of the class. A grade of C- would give you units of the credit for the class but will NOT fulfill the GWR.

• If the course also fulfills a GE credit (e.g., Upper-Division C and GWR), you can still use 4 units of the CR/NC towards this GE, if you have not used it for another GE course. This does NOT apply if your Upper-Division C covers a major course credit.

You may also take UNIV 401 (Graduate Writing Requirement Portfolio) to fulfill the GWR, which already designates CR/NC as the grading option.

Academic Dishonesty

Students who have received a grade reduction as a result of academic dishonesty are NOT eligible to receive a CR/NC grade in a course in which the grade has been impacted by academic dishonesty (e.g., cheating and/or plagiarism). In this case the CR/NC grade will revert to the letter grade issued by the course instructor. Source of information from Academic Programs & Planning website.

Academic Probation

If you are on academic probation, you can select CR/NC option as long as you have units available and are mindful of your major’s policies. CR/NC could be a great option to strategically improve your GPA and work to get off of academic probation. However, it could still help to discuss the pros/cons and possible impacts to your GPA with an academic advisor.

Community College Courses

Cal Poly policies for CR/NC do not apply to community college courses. Community Colleges have their own CR/NC policies that apply

Community college courses are only factored into the Higher Ed GPA, not the term GPA or Cal Poly SLO GPA.

Repeating a Course for Grade Forgiveness

If you are repeating a course, you cannot take the class for grade forgiveness. You must enroll in the class on a graded basis.

Not showing in correct place on my DPR

• If the course isn’t showing in the correct area of the degree progress report (DPR), check under “Course credits not used – Counted". If the course is showing here, that might mean that you’ve already used your 4 units of CR/NC for that category. Check if you’ve already used these units previously.
• If you haven’t used these 4 units before, you can check with an advisor or email evaluations@calpoly.edu to ask for clarification.
• If you have already used these 4 units, you can email evaluations@calpoly.edu. They will change the grade back to a letter and move it into the correct area on the DPR.

Withdrawals from CR/NC Class

If you withdraw from a course that you elected CR/NC, you will get those units back because you did not finish the course, receive units and a grade was not provided for this course. You do not need to take any action.