Virginia ? Virginia Tech said Thursday that students unable to finish coursework this spring because of the trauma of this week’s massacre won’t have to. And those students will qualify for credit with the grades they had earned before the killer struck.

In uncharted territory after the nation’s deadliest shooting rampage by an individual, school officials said they are seeking to ease students back into an academic routine with flexibility and compassion when classes resume Monday, a few weeks before the end of the school year.

The actions showed that Tech is groping for a balance in helping students through grief and nudging them back toward the mission of education.

The “Procedure for the Completion of the Spring 2007 Academic Semester” the university announced was carefully calibrated to give students options: They can elect to count only work completed as of Monday; they can count work until the attacks plus any other assignments they choose to complete; or they can count work from the entire semester.