XF is a

letter grade Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

used at some U.S.

colleges A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

, to denote either students who withdraw from a course after the refund period has lapsed or who are caught performing acts of academic dishonesty. This was intended to make it evident from the transcript why the failing grade was assigned, though critics have pointed to inconsistent grading schema among universities issuing XF grades. The XF variation is also used by at least one institution to indicate a student who has failed a course due to non-attendance. The earliest instance of the XF grade occurred at the University of Maryland, College Park, and XFs have been assigned for plagiarists at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

since 2000.

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

and

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

have also recently adopted the practice. At Kansas, students with XF grades may have the grade changed to a regular "F" by enrolling in an

academic integrity Academic integrity is the moral code or ethical policy of academia. The term was popularized by the R.C (USA), who is considered to be the "grandfather of academic integrity". Other prominent academic integrity scholars and advocates include Trace ...

course. Students at Wichita State University, who did not wish for "F"s on their transcript to be mistaken for academic dishonesty, requested adoption of the XF by their university. Students at Thomas Edison State University requested that XF grades gained from missing the withdrawal deadline be omitted from official transcripts, leading to a policy change within the university.TESU: Understanding Your Transcript (internal link)
/ref> This is notable in that the discussion was sparked, in part, by inconsistent grading policies among universities issuing XF grades.

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See also