The UC San Diego Academic Senate announced that there will be new academic accommodations in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For Winter and Spring Quarter 2021, students will have extensions on when they can drop classes or change their grading options. 

Students enrolled in courses can now wait until the end of Week 10 –– March 12 for Winter 2021 –– to change their grading option between a letter grade or Pass/No Pass. Pass/No Pass courses taken for the next two quarters will not be counted in the 25 percent limit of Pass/No Pass courses students are typically allowed to take while attending UCSD. Students not in good standing are also able to change their grading options.

The Academic Senate now also allows students to drop a class or withdraw from the quarter with a “W’ grade by the end of Week 7. The deadline for Winter 2021 would be Feb. 19. Moreover, classes that students had previously received a D or an F on can now be retaken with the Pass/No Pass grading option.

“We would like to thank the professors who voted in favor of these accommodations as we have no doubt they will serve to be a great relief to you all in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote learning, and other current situations,” UCSD AS President Kimberly Giangtran and AS Associated Vice President of Academic Affairs David Hickman said in a statement. “We would also like to thank all the students that took part in the Office of Academic Affairs Survey which was instrumental in getting these accommodations to the Academic Senate.”

The Office of the Registrar has implemented these accommodations onto WebReg and students will be able to see these new changes in the coming weeks. All policy changes are temporary and will only be valid for Winter and Spring Quarter 2021. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the new academic accommodations, please contact your department or college advisors. 

Photo courtesy of Kelsea Bergh for The UCSD Guardian.