Grade inflation — the trend of colleges rewarding students with higher grades than in the past — is a phenomenon affecting many of the nation’s institutes of higher education. However, as for IU Southeast, it is hard to tell whether or not this event is occurring on campus. “I don’t know if there is any evidence that [grade inflation] exists here at IUS,” said Joe Wert, dean of the School of Social Sciences. “It may, but I haven’t seen anything that makes me think that yes, there definitely is.”

As students graduate high school and plan to take on the next milestone by attending college, some are often plagued with the naive belief that college will be the same as high school. For instance, in high school, some students may not have had to put much effort into achieving an A on a test, but, in college, grades are supposed to be rigorously earned. One should expect the standard would increase at a higher institution of learning in regard to academic success and the motivation to try.