TSU adopts new failing grade system

By Alejandra Arreguin—

Executive Producer

There are now three ways to fail a class.

At the beginning of the semester, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management Javier Garza sent out an email to students and faculty regarding a new grading process for students that receive federal financial aid.

This will not affect students who receive the letter grade A, B, C or D, but just students who receive the letter grade F for a class.

Having three different meanings for the letter grade F, comes with the expectation that students are following through with their education that the federal government is trying to support.

This does not mean that there will be three types of grades, neither will it affect a students GPA. Instead there will be three types of meanings behind the letter grade F.

The first meaning includes the regular “F”, which is a letter grade students receive when they still continue to attend class throughout the semester and fail the course.

The second meaning includes an F zero. This means, if a student was enrolled in a classroom but never attended and their instructor does not having any proof or record of the student’s attendance the student will receive this letter grade.

Third if the students receives an FX, this means the student did attend class at the beginning of the semester, but stopped attending.

Consequences for receiving an F zero or an FX include returning the money the student received from financial aid back to the government.

For instance, if a student only goes to their class for half of the semester and stops, the school will request half of that money to be returned to the government.

Garza said, “The government expects us to be good stewards of those resources so this was a step in that direction”.

An appeal process will also be available if conflict rises between a professor and a student regarding the attendance to their class. Evidence will be required by either the student or the professor to be evaluated by the appeal committee.

“This is basically a way to track attendance to see when students either never or actually attend the class or when they stop attending so that’s why these grades are built like they are,” Assistant Registrar David Sutton said.

Faculty are encouraged to make sure students are aware of this new process, keeping track of who attends class and how student’s engage in the class.