A student's grade point average is calculated based on two values. The first is the total credit hours the student has taken, and the second is the total quality points the student has earned. When a GPA calculation extends beyond two decimal places it is truncated (a GPA calculation of 1.456 would be evaluated as1.45.)

The total credit hours a student has taken is equal to the sum of the credit hours assigned to each course she has successfully completed.

Course	Grade	Credit Hours
ANTH 021 Human Cultures	A	3
CHEM 031 Intro Chemistry	A-	4
ENGS 023 American Lit	B+	3
NR 006 Race & Culture in NR	C	2

In the above example the student has taken a total of 12 credit hours.

Quality points are numerical values associated with letter grades. (For a complete list of the current letter grades and their quality point equivalents see Grades at UVM.) A student earns quality points based on both the letter grade she has earned for the course and the number of credits assigned to the course. Quality Points x Credit Hours = Total Quality Points earned for the course.

The total quality points a student has earned is equal to the sum of the total quality points earned for each course she has successfully completed.

Course	Grade	Quality Points		Credit Hours	Total Quality Points
ANTH 021 Human Cultures	A	4.00	x	3	12
CHEM 031 Intro Chemistry	A-	3.67	x	4	14.68
ENGS 023 American Lit	B+	3.33	x	3	9.99
NR 006 Race & Culture in NR	C	2.00	x	2	4.00

In the above example the student has earned 40.67 quality points.

The grade point average is the total quality points divided by the total credit hours.

For our example student's case; 40.67 quality points/12 credit hours = a GPA of 3.38.

Students who repeat a course only receive credit once for the course. The grades for all occurrences of the course remain on the permanent academic record and are included in computing the cumulative grade point average.

Course	Grade	Quality Points		Credit Hours	Total Quality Points
ANTH 021 Human Cultures	A	4.00	x	3	12
CHEM 031 Intro Chemistry	A-	3.67	x	4	14.68
ENGS 023 American Lit	B+	3.33	x	3	9.99
NR 006 Race & Culture in NR	C	2.00	x	2	4.00
NR 006 Race & Culture in NR	A	4.00	x	2	8.00
Totals				14	48.67

In our example, the student chose to repeat NR 006 and her GPA would be calculated as shown; 48.67 quality points/14 credit hours = a GPA of 3.48. However, she will have only earned 12 credits.