Grade InflationThroughout the 21st century, college should be a top priority for students graduating from high school, but students taking the next step to attend universities are facing a rapidly growing problem. . The problem is the grade inflation that is occurring in university nursing programs. Dr. Judith Scalan, associate professor and associate dean of the graduate program, and Dr. Dean Care, associate professor and interim dean at the University of Manitoba, said that "academic inflation can be defined as an increase of a student's cumulative grade point average without the student's scores increasing” (2). Grade inflation is a recurring problem for students majoring in nursing for many reasons. The reasons for this are that “professors who teach do not know good evaluation methods, part-time professors give higher grades, and professors give good grades because of the relationships they have with their students” ( Scalan 476). Other reasons why grade inflation also occurs is because clinical practice in nursing programs does not have agreement on nursing credentials and many nursing schools are competitive , leading universities to encourage high graduation rates (Scalan 476). In the future, nursing students are affected by grade inflation because they are not "prepared for the work that is required once they enter the field" (Faurer and Lopez 19), l Grade inflation makes students overconfident in their skills (Scalan 477) and companies do not believe that nursing students' transcription is credible (Faurer and Lopez 20). Instead of allowing grade inflation to continue, university nursing programs should create a valid and robust grading rubric, train faculty to have the...... middle of paper .... ..eative Nursing 18.2 (2012): 74-77. Internet. April 1, 2014. Scanlan, Judith and Care, Dean. “Inflation: should we be worried? Journal of Nursing Education 43.10 (2004): 475-478. Internet. April 4, 2014. Scanlan, Judith and Care, Dean. “Problems of Grading and Grade Inflation in Nursing Education.” » Annual Review of Nursing Education 6.1 (2008): 173-201. Internet. April 1, 2014. Speer, Alice, David Solomon and Ruth-Marie Fincher. “Grade inflation in internal medicine rotations: results of a national survey.” » 12.3 (2000): 112-116. Internet. April 1, 2014. Ringing, Brenda. “A Stands for Adjuvant”: Examining Grade Inflation in Higher Education. » Journal of Education for Business 76.1 (2000): 5-8.Web. April 11, 2014. Zellner, Kathleen M. “An Examination of Grade Distribution Patterns and Grade Inflation in a Baccalaureate Nursing Program.” ProQuest. UMI Microform, May 2008. Web. April 3. 2014.