Final Grades

Recording Student Non Attendance

Using the FN Grade

In compliance with University Faculty Council Policy (FN Non-Attendance; March 1999), faculty members are required to differentiate students who fail a class because they quit attending from those who failed the class based on merit.   This policy was implemented in response to a federal mandate to track and monitor the attendance of financial aid recipients.   The FN grade (Failure-Non attendance) and last known date of attendance is used to identify these students.

Adhering to this policy and reporting the last known date of attendance is critical to avoid potential financial liability for the institution.

In addition, FN grade date is often useful in arbitrating cases when students believe that they had completed the process to drop a course.

• Federal Student Aid funds are awarded to a student under the assumption that the student will attend school at that award level (number of credit hours) for the entire period.
• When a student drops a class after the semester has started, the appropriate amount of federal grants and loans for which the student is eligible must be determined.
• It is necessary to determine the point in time that the student withdrew to make the correct calculation.
• For the student who stops attending a class, but does not complete the process to officially drop it, the last known date of attendance that is reported with the FN grade is used by the Office of Student Financial Aid Services to recalculate the financial aid awards.  (This is a federal requirement.)
• These calculations on the appropriate amount of aid earned by a student are audited by the Indiana State Board of Accounts and non-compliance is reported to the U.S. Department of Education.
• Failure to monitor and report last known date of attendance and to accurately return the correct amount of financial aid places the campus at risk for substantive penalties.