There have been changes to EWU’s usual grading system that might cause confusion for students. The changes take effect this quarter.

There will now be a set standard that a student’s grade will need to be, otherwise it will be rounded down to the next grade down.

For example, a 3.7 grade is an A- on the letter-grade chart. If a student were to earn a 3.9 grade, the grade would be dropped down to a 3.7. Normally, a 3.9 would be considered an A. But since the student did not receive a 4.0 grade (the grade now required to receive an A), the student did not receive a solid 4.0 grade, and would receive a 3.7 instead with the new system.

“I think that students who are used to the previous system might have difficulties adapting to the new system,”  assistant professor of mathematics Viktoria Taroudaki said. “Whereas the freshmen this year might not be as affected because they are starting off their experience with one single grading system.”

The faculty senate voted to approve the change on April 24, 2017, but it didn’t take effect until fall quarter.

“The decision was centered around student success,” Chris Valeo, president of EWU Faculty Organization said. “What we were looking at was that when students are applying to graduate schools they were at a disadvantage. Other schools were only using letter grades. So, an A was automatically being considered a 4.0 even if a student received a 3.8. Whereas our students were staying at a 3.8 because we did not have a letter grade system.”

Some students are shocked by the change.

“I think the system is less representing to our overall grade,” EWU junior Arielle White said. “It doesn’t take each individual score we got. It rounds our overall grade.”

Students see the negative impact that this can bring forth to one another, but students also see how there could be little to no impact.

“I think students to an extent should have a say in the change but I also don’t think many of us really know the ultimate differences between the letter grade system and just the average,” EWU junior Kayley Duclos said. •