Students returning from winter break may find their mailboxes cluttered with junk mail, but one thing they won't see is a Penn grade mailer.
In a recent change to its longstanding policy, Penn's Office of the Registrar has decided to stop automatically sending grade mailers -- paper records of a student's grades for the semester -- to students.
Those who wish to continue to receive grade mailers each semester will now have to submit a request for them via the privacy settings on Penn InTouch.
The policy change will not affect grade mailers sent to parents or other people specified by students.
Penn Registrar Ron Sanders said that most students access their grades online long before grades are mailed out, so they find little use for the sheet of paper.
"Students have been asking us for years why we continue to mail out grades when they already know them," he said. "So in the interest of saving paper and helping our economy a little bit, we decided to stop."
The decision to stop sending grade mailers will save up to 20,000 pieces of paper each semester, though Sanders was unsure what this equates to financially.
However, it is unlikely that the Registrar's Office will become completely paper-free any time soon.
"There will always be the need for things like paper transcripts to be sent to grad schools," Sanders said. "I don't see any way we could ever discontinue that."
Sanders is unaware of any student reaction to the policy change.
"We haven't heard a word from anyone yet," he said.
He added that although an announcement had been posted on Penn InTouch, students might not even be aware of the policy change until the start of the next semester, when they do not get their grades in the mail -- if they notice at all.
College sophomore Scott Johnson was already aware of the decision but felt that it would not make a difference to most students.
"I never really check my mail anyways, so I'm pretty indifferent," he said. "It's way easier to just check your grades online on Penn InTouch."
Paper-pushing - Many students have asked the Office of the Registrar the purpose of sending grade mailers when grades are available via Penn InTouch - Discontinuation of the grade mailers will save up to 20,000 pieces of paper each semester
