Northern Borders University (NBU) GPA Calculator

Northern Border University adopts the grading system out of 5.00 (Executive Rule 1, Article 28). Coursework is graded on nine bands: A+ (5.00, marks 95-100), A (4.75, 90 to under 95), B+ (4.50, 85 to under 90), B (4.00, 80 to under 85), C+ (3.50, 75 to under 80), C (3.00, 70 to under 75), D+ (2.50, 65 to under 70), D (2.00, 60 to under 65), and F (1.00, under 60).

NBU's own transcript regulations also record several administrative notations alongside these letter grades: IP (In-Progress, for research courses spanning more than one semester), IC (Incomplete, when a student is allowed to finish a course's requirements the following semester), DN (Denial), NP (No-grade Pass, used for equated transfer courses), NF (No-grade Fail), and W (Withdrawn with an excuse). None of these six carry a grade point on the standard scale.

Each course's grade points are found by multiplying its credit units by the weight of the grade earned; the semester GPA is the sum of those points divided by the sum of credit units attempted that semester, and the cumulative GPA is the same calculation across every semester studied.

An Incomplete (IC) grade is not counted in either the semester or cumulative GPA until the student completes the course and receives an actual grade; if a full semester passes without resolution, the Incomplete is replaced with a Fail and counted in both averages. A student who finishes their study plan with an average below the Pass grade may have courses graded F, Denial (DN), or Withdrawn (W) excluded from the calculation -- up to 20% of their total courses -- until their average reaches 2.00 out of 5.00; excluded courses are then recorded as No-grade Fail (NF) without their credit hours or grade counting toward the average.

An academic warning is the notice sent to a student whose cumulative average falls below the minimum this regulation requires. A student is dismissed from the university after at most three consecutive academic warnings for a cumulative-average shortfall, though the university council may, on the college council's recommendation, grant a fourth chance to study available courses and raise the average. The summer semester does not count toward the semesters in which warnings are issued.

A student is also dismissed for failing to complete graduation requirements within the maximum allowed time (the program's normal duration plus half of it again), though the university council may grant an exceptional extension of up to double the original duration, and in exceptional cases a further extension of up to two more semesters.

A student graduates after successfully completing their study plan's requirements, provided their cumulative GPA is not below the minimum the university council sets for their specialization -- and in every case not below the Pass grade. For some colleges, this minimum is raised to the Good grade to meet academic accreditation requirements.

A student is considered expected to graduate once at most 15 credit hours remain in their final semester, and no student is formally graduated until the university council issues a decision to that effect.

At graduation, a student's cumulative GPA (on the 5.00 scale NBU adopts) earns a general classification: Excellent at 4.50 or above, Very Good from 3.75 up to under 4.50, Good from 2.75 up to under 3.75, and Pass from 2.00 up to under 2.75. The same regulation also prints parallel figures for institutions using the 4.00 column of the shared table.

Two honors ranks are awarded at graduation: First Honors for a cumulative GPA from 4.75 to 5.00, and Second Honors for a cumulative GPA from 4.25 up to under 4.75. Either rank requires that the student never failed a course at NBU or any other university, completed their degree within the average of their college's minimum and maximum allowed duration, and studied at least 60% of their graduation requirements at NBU itself.

A student transferring in from another recognized college or university must not have been dismissed from it for disciplinary reasons, and must meet the conditions the university council sets -- including at least two completed semesters and 24 units at the prior institution, and a cumulative GPA at transfer of at least 2.75 out of 5.00 for non-health colleges, or at least 3.75 out of 5.00 for health colleges. At least 50% of graduation requirements must still be completed at NBU, and transfers are capped at 10% of general admission.

Courses studied outside the university can be equated by the college council on department recommendation. To qualify, a course's content must match at least 70%, and the grade earned must be Good or higher; up to 50% of a student's study plan may be equated this way, with specialization courses capped at 40%. An equated course is recorded on the transcript with the grade NP (No-grade Pass) and is excluded from the cumulative GPA calculation.