Students who work hard do it because they want to, not because they are getting a grade. Look at Brown, that does p/np for freshmen anyway. Do you think all those students at Brown are coasting during Freshman year?
I sat next to a guy at graduation who had a perfect 4.0. I know he took German p/f because he was afraid of his perfect gpa dropping, but in the end he still received an A, and he was already accepted into medical school as we sat at graduation.
P/NP has been an option at some schools for years. It doesn’t make the good students slack off.
At Michigan, A+ through C- become P, while D+ through E becomes F under the P/F option (neither P nor F affect GPA calculations at Michigan, though graduate/professional schools may recalculate differently): https://bulletin.engin.umich.edu/rules/standing/
Giving students a chance to change between letter grade and pass very late, or after seeing the final grade, will basically announce that P for spring 2020 is more likely from the lower part of the range than a P in another term (anyone with an A+ will change the P to an A+, but anyone with a C- will leave it as a P).
Let’s face it. Productivity is lower for most of us when we work from home. The same would be true of students taking classes online especially when the motivation is even less. Just like some adults working from home, some students could be exceptions and yours may well be among those exceptions. However, these exceptions don’t mean the students in general would work as hard when taking online classes on pass/fail basis.
Perhaps true, but do you really think grad schools care? And if so, how can they really know? After all, many colleges have liberal p/f policies. Berkeley L&S has for decades allowed up to 1/3 of courses taken to be cr/nc. Now, I have no idea how liberally used that policy is, but anyone who can accurately “announce” what that P represents (high or low range) should be on their yacht in the Caymans day trading.
As noted by twoinone, perhaps someone is taking Advanced Foreign language and doesn’t want a B+ to kill that GPA and reduce chances for pbk.
Except that the normal deadline to choose letter or P/NP grading can be quite early in the semester, so making that choice is somewhat speculative, compared to choosing letter or P/NP grading after known what the letter grade will be.
Err… No kidding… That’s evident. But they made it so it can only “help” your GPA and not lower it. Honestly, in the end it’s still going to come down to what you’ve done with your time on campus, in internships /, coops and the like and recommendations. I don’t know many Michigan grads in the soup lines and worrying about getting employed. (OK, prior to the pandemic).
This is exactly why (and other reasons) why both my kids are still at school. I know many students that have apartments that went back up to school once home for a bit.
I don’t know about this. While I would accept any refund the colleges want to offer the pandemic wasn’t the colleges fault. It seemed most handled it well in retrospect
Many paid to move kids out, paid for storage to hold on till the students return or are shipping it to their local. Many had to scramble to get classes online. Many gave financial assistance to get them back home. Many have let students stay in dorms if needed. Many have credited said dorms or university apartments since the student had to leave early and so on.
I think sometimes and in unprecedented times we are all just in this together.
Now if the schools want to have a tuition freeze for a year, which is unlikely or rebate something or credit this or that or somehow give more financial aid etc I won’t say no. I am just not expecting anything grand and the 2 colleges my kids go to I was actually impressed by their response. One big ten and one small Lac. What’s your take?
^I agree some colleges have done exemplarily for their students in these trying times. One of the colleges I know well even offer full room-and-board “refund” to students to stay home, who didn’t even pay fully for it because of their financial aid exceeded full tuition.
@Knowsstuff one part I like about the U of C petition is for kids to be able to take fewer classes. That would give us something to think about for S. He has some AP credits and he could just take two classes next semester and still be on track. I’d have to think about it more but, even at full price for two classes, that might be something we would consider. That would cut tuition for fall in half. I get that it’s still “full price” per class but he didn’t really have any intention of using those AP classes towards graduation. They were just going to be extra credits hanging out there in the end.
@homerdog
I posted this somewhere but at Beloit they are in talks to have the kids take just 2 classes for half a semester remotely in the fall but students come back to take another 2 classes for the second half of the semester. So it’s the same normal 4 classes but broken up and yes the demand on the student will be lessened for that one whole semester. I think this is an interesting approach. This way if the virus does indeed come back no one’s on campus to early and then they ease the kids back in per se the second half. Nothing is ideal but think this is responsible.
I agree. I keep trying to tell myself that I need to keep paying for the things I want to be around after coronavirus. So, when I couldn’t go to my hair appointment yesterday, I venmo’d the normal cost to my hairdresser anyway. Of course, there’s a big cost difference between a hair appt and college tuition, but same principle applies. If I’m in a position to pay, I will. For those who are facing financial hardship, most schools have said to get in touch to discuss options.
I applaud Beloit for being creative but I almost think that plan is messing with people just a little bit. It’s setting kids up for online at the beginning and then giving hope that the kids will be back half way through the semester. It seems more likely, though, that if kids can’t go to school in August then they also cannot in October. If there’s another spike in Coronavirus cases, wouldn’t it be more likely to show up further into fall?
So Beloit’s plan is the opposite of what some colleges might choose- back in August and then home if there’s a spike. But at least, in that case, kids have met their professor and the kids in their class and been “present” for a few months before moving online. In the Beloit model, kids will start two classes from scratch in Aug and then possibly another two classes in October with more chance to meet any of those professors in person.
It is only being discussed behind closed doors… I have an insider… Lol…?
Also they are thinking about having seniors come back in August for “Senior weekend” and have graduation weekend then. I guess it’s a thing to have the seniors come back to campus before the freshman do. They are discussing putting them in the dorms free of charge for the weekend then holding all the events that they would of normally had in later May. I like this type of thinking and it makes me happy if this happens or the like
It’s selfish but I want my daughter to have the excitement and privilege of walking down and getting her diploma!
They are supposed to decide next week on the 15th is the decision day.
Students on financial aid need to take at least 12 credit-hours in a term to be considered “full time” for financial aid purposes. 12 credit-hours is 3/4 or 4/5 of the 15 to 16 credit-hours per term needed to graduate in 8 semesters or 12 quarters (without coming in with AP or other credit).
Chicago counts by quarter courses, requiring 42 to graduate. If we assume that this is equivalent to 180 quarter credit-hours, that means that each Chicago course is roughly equivalent to 4.29 quarter credit-hours. So a Chicago student on financial aid must take at least three per quarter to be “full time” for financial aid purposes.
@ucbalumnus what rule is that? Is that for federal aid? Couldn’t private schools granting aid themselves do whatever they want and bend that rule for a semester?