Finals are over; you’re at home awaiting notification of your crucial Calculus grade. While you’re hoping for a miraculous A and praying for a C, the feeling you get when you see your grades is worse than getting an F.
Your grade is not posted.
Missing grades were the case for many students over the winter break, and some did not even receive their grades until after they had returned from the break.
“Some were there early, but one of my grades wasn’t there until January,” said Caitin Lutton, ’03, “It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
Liz Cummings, ’03, felt differently. “It’s frustrating that I didn’t know my GPA right away,” she said, “It’s a nuisance when possible future employers want to know your GPA and you can’t give it to them. It doesn’t make you look good when it’s really something you can’t help.”
Why the wait? After all, the academic calendar posted on Fairfield’s Web site states that “all grades due at University Registrar’s Office 72 hours after each final exam is administered.”
While campus pipeline had sporadic problems over the break, the problem was almost entirely due to some dilly-dallying professors- one of whom had not submitted his grades until as late as Jan. 13.
Timothy Snyder, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, said that the problems with students not receiving their grades were actually few and far between, but cited that “problems with pipeline and late professors were the worst”.
While, at the moment, there is no penalty for professors who do not submit their grades in a timely manner, if it becomes a consistent problem, the Dean’s Office will try to work with the problematic professor in order to correct the problem.
“Students should know we take this matter very seriously,” Snyder said, “The first evidence of that is the number of times this has happened is very small and all deans and departments get right on this. Not only is knowing your grade a relief for students who may not be doing so well, but for the student who worked very hard to learn more than what was needed, it’s nice to know the benefits of putting in the extra effort.”
According to a Jan. 2 letter from Academic Vice President Orin Grossman to a late professor (whose name has been kept confidential), the university policy about the timely submission of grades “is not simply for the convenience of the administration”. He further stated that late grades cause problems with probation and withdrawal lists, which must be completed by the beginning of the spring semester.
“Students have a right to know whether they will be attending Fairfield University in the spring semester and under what conditions,” the letter says. Problems arise elsewhere, such as with the Dean’s list and rank sheets. The letter further states, “without a complete set of grades, these lists will be wrong; the rank sheets will be wrong and will need to be re-done.”
Late grades incur problems with the Registrar’s Office, causing incomplete grade mailers to be sent and later must be re-done, and they must also answer numerous phone calls from angry students inquiring why their grades aren’t available.
Besides problems with the Registrar and Deans’ offices, many students have to send complete transcripts to graduate schools or other places, and they cannot afford to wait.
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