Professors are supposed to post final grades 48 hours after the final exam, but not all professors met the deadline.
According to Director of Enrollment Services and University Registrar Mary Ellen Farrell, it is important for grades to be on time because "departmental and deans' offices need this information in conjunction with advisement, determination of the status of students on probation."
Also, the financial aid office needs grade information to determine scholarship eligibility and the registrar's office needs the grades to create the Dean's List and probation reports, and to award degrees to the semester's degree candidates, Farrell said.
"Professors are expected to meet this deadline, but for those that can't due to late exam periods or students handing in late work, there is some leeway," Assistant Registrar Marilyn Nolan said.
According to Farrell, the faculty Christmas break serves as an "opened-window" for professors to post grades. "When we returned from Christmas break, we sent a list of missing grades to all departments and deans' offices with a request that they contact professors to get them to submit their grades," Farrell said.
According to that document, roughly 133 professors did not meet last semester deadline on Dec. 19.
"Grades are late for various reasons," Farrell said. Some of these reasons include professors having issues accessing their rosters, rosters having incomplete or incorrect faculty assignments, or students not submitting requests for incompletes early enough to have their grades posted by Jan. 2.
Junior Carissa Abraham said one of her professors posted her final grade Sunday.
"I was frustrated because it's the professor's job to get grades in on time," Abraham said. "This particular professor almost jeopardized one of my scholarships."
However, according to financial aid counselor Nadege Joseph, financial aid does not take away scholarships midway through the academic year. "Usually, we review students' grades from the fall semester and e-mail warnings if the student did not make the scholarship's GPA requirement," Joseph said. "But we do not take away scholarships until the end of spring after all grades have been posted."
Other students also stated they were concerned about late grades.
"I am still waiting on a grade," sophomore Kristen Drake said. "It is affecting my status regarding the Dean's List."
According to sophomore Brian Walker, one of his grades was also posted well past the grade deadline.
"My parents wanted to know, and it was a grade that could have potentially put me on the Dean's list," Walker said. "It was overall a frustrating experience."
Rachel Hassett can be reached at rachel.hassett@student.shu.edu.
