Academic deadlines extended

Due to the current situation, a number of deadlines for current academic regulations will be relaxed and one-time exceptions will be provided as a broad safety net for students with challenges in this new learning environment.  

“While we will maintain our current grading process and standards, we are keenly aware of the pressures students face in making such an abrupt transition to a new learning mode late in a semester, as well as the challenges our instructors face in quickly adjusting their courses to unfamiliar modalities of instruction and assessment,” said Frank Dooley, senior vice provost for teaching and learning. “We recognize many factors that may impact our students’ ability to learn over the coming weeks: Illness, caring for loved ones, challenges in a new learning mode, isolation, among many others. 

"These one-time exceptions apply to undergraduate programs. Graduate and professional programs will develop their own set of academic regulation guidelines.”

This plan, which is being conveyed to all students, faculty and advisors, will modify key dates of current academic regulations, making as few changes as possible while accommodating the challenging situation.

The planned process is that:

• Letter grades will be assigned as they normally would be. However, some deadlines that have already passed will be extended:
  • Students will have until the end of the semester (May 1, Friday before finals) to switch a course from a letter grade to P/NP. (Deadline was originally Friday before spring break, already extended to April 3.)
  • Students will have until the end of the semester (May 1, Friday before finals) to withdraw from (drop) a course. (Deadline was originally March 13.)
  • Any student receiving an incomplete for a Spring 2020 class will have the full 2020-21 academic year, to the end of the Spring 2021 semester, to clear the incomplete, which is the existing regulation. However, the University strongly discourages the overissuing of incompletes.
  • No student will be dropped from the University as a result of their performance in Spring 2020. Normal regulation will be reapplied in the fall.
  • No student will be placed on academic probation as a result of their performance in Spring 2020. Normal regulation will be reapplied in the fall.
• Unit academic advisors will receive a plan for handling the downstream consequences of increased P/NP grades for students’ academic progress. A Spring 2020 grade of P will count for any and all degree, admissions indexes, and pre-requisite requirements internal to Purdue.
• A comment will be added to the transcript of all students enrolled this semester making reference to the COVID-19 pandemic for the Spring 2020 semester.