While most professors have favored the addition of minus grades so far, students have had mixed reactions about it.

Steffon Gray, mathematics sophomore, said he doesn’t like the minus system because it negatively affects students’ grade point averages.

“A student can get straight B minus grades and receive a 2.7 grade point average for example as opposed to receiving a 3.0 grade point average with the standard B grades,” he said.

According to Edward Kvet, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, Loyola decided to alter its grading scale after studies showed a majority of American universities use both pluses and minuses.

” If you recall, we’ve had a system for many years that had pluses but no minuses. We did a study to take a look at the universities to who did what and to our surprise, we could not find another university with the exact way we did things,” Kvet said. “So we evaluated and took a look at if it would make sense to go to pluses and minuses.”

Some students, like Maria Pinheiro, English writing junior, have transitioned easily because they’re used to having pluses as well as minuses in the professors’ grading scale from high school.

According to Pinheiro, the minus system could benefit students and possibly serve as motivation to some students.

“If you’re going to have a minus grading system, then it probably will push you to work harder because if students want that A, they realize they can’t just put in the bare minimum and expect to get the grade they want,” she said. “But if you’re the type of person who relies on being on the cusp to get the next grade up, then it’ll affect students negatively.”

Gray said while he thinks it may push students to work harder for grades, he said he feels minus grades are demoralizing for students.

“It’s discouraging in my opinion. Before, it gave students a little more motivation to do well because they’re either going to get a plus grade or a solid grade. Now students have to worry about receiving a minus grade,” he said.

Not every student opposes the minus system. Wayne Connor, economics junior, said he doesn’t have a problem with it. His only concern is that the plus grades aren’t worth as much quality points as they used to be.

“The discrepancy between a B plus and an A minus or the difference between the two is so large. Maybe if the gap were closed a little bit, it would be better,” he said.

Connor said he missed out on the dean’s list because his professors last semester opposed using minus grades.

“In a lot of my classes, teachers refused to give minuses so I had A minus grades that my teachers gave me B pluses for. My grades struggled there because the pluses weren’t worth as many quality points as they used to be,” he said.   

Craig Malveaux can be reached at [email protected]