George Mason University

In spring 2020, students will have the option to select a grade scheme that carries no quality points, therefore special considerations must be taken into account when calculating academic standing.

There will be three groups of students in spring 2020, each requiring a different type of assessment for academic standing:

• Students who have retained the A-F grade mode entirely and will therefore have a term GPA that affects the cumulative GPA;
• Students who have selected the alternative grade mode (generically,  “Xx”  grades) for some of their classes and will therefore have a term GPA calculated on a partial selection of classes that affects the cumulative GPA;
• Students who have selected “Xx” grades for all of their classes and will therefore not have a term GPA and the cumulative GPA will not change from the previous semester.

Academic Policy 5.2.3 defines the undergraduate retention categories of Warning, Probation, and Suspension and bases eligibility for those categories on a combination of Attempted Credits and Cumulative GPA. Because undergraduate students could increase their Attempted Credits in Spring 2020 without improving their Cumulative GPA, they are at risk of “earning” their way into a more severe retention category.

Therefore: Undergraduate students who select “Xx” grades will not have those grades considered as Attempted Credits for the purposes of Academic Standing calculations.

Academic Standing classifications are defined by George Mason. The calculation of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) is governed by federal financial aid guidelines as is not affected by this decision.