Grading Links

Grading System

Please contact us with any questions you may have.

College Accreditation and Calendar

Kalamazoo Valley Community College was initially accredited by the Michigan Commission on College Accreditation, and is currently accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kalamazoo Valley currently operates on a semester calendar with three fourteen week semesters (Fall, Winter and Summer). Beginning with the 2011-12 fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) all Continuing Education courses are offered within a year long term. From 1968 until 2000 the Winter semester was titled Spring.

Grading System

These definitions are provided to assist you in interpreting our grading scale. Because of the variety of grading scales used by other educational institutions, Kalamazoo Valley does not provide a direct conversion to other grading systems such as alpha grades.

Grades That Affect the GPA

• 4.0 Outstanding
• 3.5 Much better than average
• 3.0 Better than average
• 2.5 Slightly better than average
• 2.0 Average
• 1.5 Less than average
• 1.0 Poor
• 0.0 Failing

Prior Grade Options

• 4.5 Better than Outstanding
• 0.5 Failing

Grades That Do Not Affect the GPA

• CR Credit for satisfactory completion
• NC No Credit
• S Successful completion of non-credit course
• NS Non-successful completion of non-credit course
• I Incomplete; course objectives not yet met
• IP In Progress course
• ID Ungraded course*
• W Withdrawal from class
• V Audit

* Grade was not available at posting time, the earned grade will be posted to the transcript when it is submitted.

Prior Grade Options

• WP Withdrawal from class w/ a passing grade
• WF Withdrawal from class w/ a failing grade
• X No Credit

A cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for graduation. The GPA is determined by dividing the total number of quality points earned by the number of GPA credit hours attempted. Quality points are awarded by multiplying the grade point value received by the number of credits for the particular course.

Excluded Courses

All registrations in a course are indicated on the transcript. Courses excluded from the GPA under the forgiveness or repeat course policies are designated by an E in the final column (R). If this column is blank or contains an I, the course is included in the GPA calculation. Credit for repeated courses is granted only once toward graduation and the highest or most recent grade is used in the GPA calculation.

Continuing Education Units

Continuing Education Units (CEU) are printed on a separate transcript from credit courses. Each CEU is equal to 10 contact hours.

Honors Courses

Beginning with the Winter 2023 semester, honors courses are identified with an H as part of the course number. Previously, honors is part of the course title.

Disclosure Statement

Student transcripts contain confidential information which is protected by federal law. These educational records are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. §1232g) and may not be released without the consent of the student.

Security Statement

Kalamazoo Valley Community College uses an official transcript paper with a security pattern created in the blue background ink which displays the word VOID when copied. A black and white transcript is not official.

GPA Calculation

Transcript Information

Please contact us with any questions you may have.

Grade Point Average (GPA) Calculation

Kalamazoo Valley Community College utilizes credit hours, numeric grades and quality points to calculate grade point averages. It is a simple formula that multiplies each course's credit hour value by the grade earned to award quality points. The total quality points awarded is then divided by the number of credit hours attempted to arrive at the GPA.

Credit Hours x Grade = Quality Points
Total Quality Points / Total Credits Attempted = GPA

Courses that are not assigned a numeric grade, such as Credit/No Credit courses (CR or NC grades), will not be included in GPA calculations. When passed, they will be added to the total credits earned toward a degree. Audited (V) and Withdrawn (W) courses are not included in GPA calculations or credit hour totals.

The example below shows how GPA totals are calculated on a student's transcript for two semesters. As you can see this student struggled a bit their first semester. Perhaps they attempted too many credits during a time when they encountered personal demands on their time such as an employer requiring them to work extra hours. The course they withdrew from will not be counted toward their GPA. The course they failed will bring their GPA down because the attempted credits are still calculated, but no quality points were earned.

The good news is the student did well their second semester. Not only did their grades improve, they also took advantage of the repeat course policy. Any time a course is repeated, only the highest or most recent grade will be included in the overall GPA calculation. Students can improve their GPA by retaking courses as you can see from the improved grade in math. The final Repeat (R) column indicates if a course is Included (I) or Excluded (E) from the GPA calculation.

Fall 2005

Winter 2006

Totals