Inside September 28, 2004's Issue

Earned 'F' regulation now enforced

By Jeff Denmon
[email protected]
Staff Writer

The students of Georgia Highlands College who walked in to Professor Laura Musselwhite's western civilization class this August found something added on their syllabuses about financial aid.

This entry has in fact appeared on every teacher's syllabuses this semester:

�This message only applies to students receiving financial aid. Federal regulations state that if a student did not attend classes and received failing grades, then the grades were not earned and financial aid needs to be reduced accordingly.

�Please be advised that any student receiving a 0.00 GPA will be required to prove that the 0.00 GPA was earned by attending classes or completing requirements for each class. Students who have earned at least one passing grade for the semester will not be affected by this regulation. If a student has properly withdrawn from all classes, the student financial aid should be adjusted from the time they signed the withdrawal form.�

Wendy Shapiro, director of financial aid at Georgia Highlands College, said that though this regulation has been in place for some time, it has never really been enforced.

The only reason the policy has appeared again is that auditors have begun checking other colleges for their 0.00 averages.

Currently, if students have 0.00 averages, they will receive a letter in the mail letting them know they will have to prove they earned the grade or have to pay back a significant portion of any financial aid received.

The 0.00 average and following financial aid adjustment may be based on a combination of failing grades and withdrawals.

Financial aid adjustment and the 0.00 average, according to Shapiro, is usually determined by how long the student has not been in the particular class and how many withdrawals the student has had in the semester.

There is a federal regulation that a student must pass at least 67 percent of his or her classes and maintain a 2.0 GPA to qualify for financial aid.

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