Pictured | Sarah Meyer | Elementary Education | Washington, Indiana (hometown)

Academic Regulations and Policies

Graduation Requirements

It is expected that a substantial part of the coursework done by students who intend to graduate from IU South Bend, especially in their major field, be completed on the IU South Bend campus. Candidates ordinarily are not recommended to receive the bachelor’s degree from IU South Bend unless they earn 30 hours of credit at this campus. Specific academic program requirements for graduation should also be noted in the respective sections of this publication.
Degrees are conferred in December, May, and August. Commencement is conducted in May. Students who intend to complete their degree work within a given year must apply for graduation by the deadline. May, June, and August degree candidates must apply for graduation by October 1, while December degree candidates must apply for graduation by March 1.

Graduation with Distinction

Graduates whose minimum GPAs are 3.9 and who complete at least 60 credit hours at IU South Bend are graduated with highest distinction; those whose minimum GPAs are 3.8 and who complete at least 60 credit hours at IU South Bend are graduated with high distinction; and those whose minimum GPAs are 3.65 and who complete at least 60 credit hours at IU South Bend are graduated with distinction. These honors are noted on diplomas and in Commencement programs. Students who earn them are eligible to wear the cream and crimson fourragére at Commencement.

Some programs limit the number of students awarded distinction to the top 10 percent of the graduating class. Others may use different criteria for awarding distinction.

Incomplete Grades

A grade of I (Incomplete) may be given when a substantial amount of the coursework (75 percent) is satisfactorily completed by the end of the semester. The grade of I is given only when the completed portion of the student’s work is of passing quality. The grade of I is awarded only under circumstances of hardship, when it is unjust to hold a student to the time limits ordinarily fixed for completion of coursework.

A student must remove the I within a calendar year from the date of its recording or, if required by the instructor, in a shorter time period. The academic program head may authorize adjustments of this period in exceptional circumstances. If the student fails to remove the I within the time allowed, the grade is changed to F. Students may not register for credit in a course in which they have a grade of I.

These regulations do not apply to courses in which completion of the coursework is not usually required at the end of the semester. Incomplete work in those courses is denoted by R (deferred grade).

Independent/Correspondence Study

The Indiana University School of Continuing Studies offers interested individuals the option of taking university courses, both credit and noncredit, at home through the Indiana University independent study division. Credit earned in correspondence courses is not counted toward any graduate degree. It is possible, however, that such work may be used by the student to make up entrance deficiencies. For more information, call continuing education at (877) 462-4872, extension 4261; or off-campus programs at (800) 321-7834.

Official Academic Transcript

Official transcripts are available from the Office of the Registrar for a fee. Requests can be submitted online, in person, by mail, or by fax. The Office of the Registrar cannot accept e-mail or phone requests, as a signature is required. Transcript requests for enrollment prior to fall 1965 must be submitted to the IU Bloomington Office of the Registrar.

In Person

Print, complete, and sign the Transcript Request Form (available at registrar.iusb.edu/transcript, take it to the Office of the Bursar (Administration Building 100D) and pay the transcript processing fee. The cashier in the Office of the Bursar will stamp the form paid. Once you pay the fee you may bring the form to the Office of the Registrar in Administration Building 148X. A third party can pick up your transcript with your written permission.

Online

Current students, alumni, and previous students who still have active computing accounts are able to request their transcript online by following the steps below:

1. Log into one.IU.edu; if you are a current student, log in using your username and passphrase.
2. In the Search box, type eTranscript. Select eTranscript Request (Recent Students) for current students, or eTranscript Request (Former Students) for former students.
3. Click on the etranscript icon. and follow the prompts. Indicate a preferred delivery method of pick-up, expedited delivery through the PDF option, or U.S. Postal.
4. The transcript processing fee must be paid via credit card; personal information is protected.
5. If indicating that “pick up” the transcript is selected, it will be available the same business day in the Office of the Registrar, Education and Arts 2101. Regretfully, the Office of the Registrar cannot   be held responsible for printing delays due to system technical difficulties.

By Mail

Print, complete, and sign the Transcript Request Form. All transcripts are sent regular first class mail. 

If you are paying by check or money order, make it payable to Indiana University and write your university ID number in the memo section. Send payment to:

Office of the Registrar/Transcript Request
Indiana University South Bend
1700 Mishawaka Avenue
PO Box 7111
South Bend, IN 46634-7111

By Fax

Official transcripts cannot be sent via fax.

Pass/Fail Option

During the undergraduate program, a student in good standing (not on probation) may enroll in up to a maximum of eight elective courses to be taken with a grade of P (Pass) or F (Fail). The Pass/Fail option may not be taken when otherwise restricted by academic program regulations.

The Pass/Fail option is open for a maximum of two courses per year, including summer sessions; for this option, the year is defined as August 15 to August 14. A course selected for Pass/Fail must be an elective; it may not be used to satisfy academic program requirements. Part-time students may select two Pass/Fail courses per 30 credit hours.

A student must file a Pass/Fail option request by the end of the third week of class. This is done by consulting the student’s academic program and completing an option form. Once the option request has been processed, it is final and cannot be reversed. At the end of the course, the letter grade given by the instructor is converted by the records office into a final grade of either P (A, B, C, or D) or F. A grade of P cannot be changed subsequently to a grade of A, B, C, or D. A grade of P is not counted in computing GPAs; the grade of F is included.