Urban Legends and Beliefs

If your college roommate commits suicide.…

The story: It is a standard regulation at all colleges that a student whose roommate commits suicide will automatically receive a 4.0 grade point for the current school term.

Although this myth has become popular enough to be the subject of two motion pictures (Dead Man on Campus and Dead Man's Curve, both 1998), it is not true. Nor will any of the variations of this legend—such as a roommate being murdered, killed accidentally, or dying from a terminal disease—earn the surviving roommate a 4.0 grade point.

Persistence has led to other versions of this story becoming a bit more believable, with versions stating the death of a parent, a close relative, or a betrothed guaranteeing a straight "A" report card. While many academic institutions do offer some kind of bereavement considerations to those students who suffer the loss of someone deemed especially important to their lives, no college is known to award grade points for such tragic circumstances.

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