When it comes to grade-point average in college, it may seem similar to high school, but the stakes are higher with financial aid, scholarships and even enrollment on the line.
What is a good GPA in college and how is that defined? At minimum, experts say, students must generally meet a GPA standard of 2.0, on a 4.0 scale, to graduate and remain eligible for federal financial aid. Institutional scholarships and program enrollment at many colleges often hinge on academic achievement above a C average. For students with a GPA below 2.0, the fallout can be dire.
“Students who fall below the minimum GPA can be placed on academic probation,” says Patrick Register, director of the financial aid and scholarships office at the University of California–Santa Cruz. He adds that dismissal from certain programs and the university is also possible.
The UC–Santa Cruz website describes probation as a warning to students that they “have fallen into academic difficulty” because their cumulative grade-point average has slipped below a 2.0 or because their GPA for that individual term is below the C average mark. When a student’s term GPA is below 1.5, he or she is at risk for disqualification from the university and may ultimately be dismissed from the school, following a review, if the grades don’t improve.
[Read: How to Recuperate From a Bad Freshman Year in College.]
Federal financial aid may also be rescinded if a student continues to fall short of minimum GPA standards.
The Department of Education website notes that students who have failed to meet GPA requirements and lost their financial aid should contact their school to determine whether they can appeal the decision to withhold financial aid. To have aid restored, a student must meet the “school’s standards for satisfactory academic progress toward a degree or certificate offered by that institution,” the website states.
While experts say a 2.0 GPA is generally the minimum to receive federal aid and meet graduation requirements, individual scholarships and programs often demand more from a student.
“What is a good GPA? I think it depends on the program,” Register says.
John P. Campbell, vice provost at West Virginia University, notes that a 2.0 GPA isn’t high enough for students to graduate from or even gain admission into certain undergraduate programs at the school, such as nursing or engineering. And students who are removed from those programs must reapply once their GPA has improved to the minimum standard.
As for institutional scholarships at WVU, Campbell says a score of 2.0 falls short of the school’s eligibility requirement of a 2.75 GPA.
[Read: What Students Should Know About the GPA Scale.]
When it comes to identifying a good GPA, Register says anything above a 2.0 shows satisfactory academic progress, but students with a grade-point average “in the high 3’s” often qualify for the dean’s list and honors programs.
“I encourage people to go for a 3.0 (GPA) or higher,” Campbell says, which is equivalent to a B average.
Experts say a 4.0 GPA, which is an A letter grade average, can be difficult to maintain throughout college.
“Unless a student is very focused from the beginning … that is going to be a difficult challenge,” says Sherry Tignor, executive director of the Center for Academic Success and Student Life at Union University in Tennessee.
There are options for students looking to boost their college GPA, though sometimes it can mean repeating courses.
“Since the cumulative GPA is weighted by the credits they have earned overall, a student may get into a situation where climbing above a 2.0 may require more than a few A’s and B’s, spanning more than a single term,” Register says. He adds that a good way for a student to rehabilitate that GPA is to retake courses he or she received a low grade in.
While retaking a course will help remedy a low GPA, there are conditions. For example, Register says, some courses may only be repeated a certain number of times, particularly if a student has earned a passing grade, such as a D. Policies governing how many times coursework can be repeated may vary by school, Register says.
[Read: Get Into Grad School Despite a Low College GPA.]
Experts say there are numerous reasons students may have a low GPA, such as struggling to adapt to the faster pace and higher workload of college academics, attempting difficult combinations of classes in the same semester, illness, family issues, employment and the adjustment to college from a highly structured high school environment.
“The difference between the high school seniors that we met and the freshmen that show up at our door in August is only three months. They didn’t become independent learners, they didn’t become self-directed, they didn’t all of a sudden become more brilliant,” Campbell says.
For college students with graduate school ambitions, a low GPA can also be problematic, experts say, with many programs requiring certain minimum standards for admission. While requirements aren’t universal, with individual schools setting varying standards, many require a minimum GPA of 3.0 for admission into a graduate program. “Many grad school programs are very competitive,” Tignor says.
For students who are struggling, Campbell advises them to acknowledge their academic issues and reach out to campus resources, whether that is tutoring, advising or one-on-one discussions with faculty and staff members.
“If you stumble a little bit, ask for help. I think that’s absolutely critical,” Campbell says.
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What a Good College GPA Is and Why It Matters originally appeared on usnews.com
