When asking the typical college student why they are here, they will give several answers. Past all the jokes of not knowing or pursuits of certain recreations, students attend college for an education and the degree that proves it. Graduation is the finish line for every student and the goal that colleges work alongside to help students achieve. The gist of this is seen in school mission statements across the country. Stanly Community College, a school in North Carolina, has taken an experimental approach to helping its students succeed with a simple change: removing the D grade from the grading scale.

Many were shocked at first, but it makes a lot of sense. Stanly began the policy in 2010, where their core classes, the English and math classes that almost all programs require, stopped awarding a passing grade for students who scored under a 70. The college’s reasoning is simple: most of these lower division courses are prerequisites that require a C to move on to higher level courses, and as a junior college, most students will transfer to institutions that require a C to retain their credit. That is not the only issue a D on a transcript can cause.

Students who transfer from a community college to Oswego are faced with grading challenges during the process. Poor grades earned early in someone’s career can be difficult to shake. Financial aid often will not cover passed courses, even if it was only passed with a D. Even if good performance in later semesters salvages a GPA, many community colleges require a 2.0 to graduate, and universities typically want at least a 2.3 or 2.5 out of transfer applicants. This leaves community college students in a tough spot if they graduate with the minimum, a spot that could mean the community college failed its mission statement to fully prepare its students yet granted them a degree regardless.

The Stanly model makes a good point. If students actually need a C, then a D simply is not good enough. If a college has a duty to prepare its students, setting the bar below what is required is not helping their students achieve. As much as it may hurt to have a 68 become an F on a transcript, that D was not going to help anyway.

Photo: Taylor Woods | The Oswegonian