Tamara Clopton has made A’s in all of her classes since coming back to St. Edward’s University in 2009. Her transcripts, however, reflect a much lower representation of her New College efforts.

Because Clopton decided to return to St. Edward’s, her GPA from 20 years ago has followed her and lowered her 4.0 to just above a 2.0. This lower GPA has disqualified her for academic and financial scholarships, even though she has risen to the top of her class.

For this reason, New College professor Vikki Totten successfully proposed the “Fresh Start” policy, which allows students returning to St. Edward’s after 10 years to start with a fresh GPA. The policy will take effect in the fall semester.

“I just got lost. I was one of those people who just fell between the cracks,” Clopton said about her time at St. Edward’s when she first enrolled 20 years ago. “I wanted to prove that it wasn’t because I wasn’t smart enough, it’s just because I was overwhelmed. I was working full-time, and at that time my son was very young. I wasn’t myself — not the self that I am now.”

The Fresh Start policy will allow Clopton, and other students like her, to prove that time does change a student. To have the policy apply to them, New College students must apply for consideration with the dean of their school and meet certain requirements. Some of the requirements include that the student must have completed 12 credit hours after re-admittance and maintain at least a 2.5 GPA during that time. Students who are currently enrolled are “grandfathered” into the policy and have one year to apply to be considered.

Totten, who wrote and proposed the policy, said that passing the Fresh Start policy fits in with the university’s mission statement. Because students transferring to St. Edward’s from other universities are not followed by their GPAs, Totten said it was unfair that former St. Edward’s students who wanted to return to St. Edward’s were followed by theirs.

“Before, we would essentially have our former students paying forever for past mistakes or failures. One of the things in our mission statement really talks about a caring faculty and social justice,” Totten said. “I felt like changing that policy was much more in line with who we say we are in terms of how we think about our students and the fact that we care about them.”

New College Interim Dean Helene Caudill agrees that the Fresh Start policy fits the St. Edward’s mission statement. Caudill said that it will “put everyone on the same starting block,” which will help when it comes to graduate school applications and financial assistance based on merit.

With the policy, Clopton will no longer have to worry about her old GPA damaging her chances at financial assistance.

“[The Fresh Start policy] will make me eligible for scholarships, and that is very exciting to me because there is a lot of cost involved in going to St. Edward’s,” Clopton said. “Now I will get to graduate with honors, which I am more excited about.”