Did you ever see Making The Grade, starring Judd Nelson, where the guy tries really hard to get thrown out of the preppy school but can’t? It’s like the stocks above have been trying that approach with the NYSE but just can’t get the dean to kick them out, no matter how close they get to zero – I mean, what does Rite Aid have to do to get booted, give Duncan Niederauer a hotfoot?

Now, subject to SEC approval, the NYSE is reducing market-cap requirements and even suspending the de-listing rule for stocks that fall under a dollar:

“We are taking proactive measures to ensure that the stocks of NYSE-listed companies can remain listed in the current difficult market conditions, enabling them to be available to the investing public during this period.” The required market cap is temporarily $15 million, down from the usual $25 million.

Previously, companies whose shares fell below $1 for 30 days, on average, received a letter warning they faced delisting after a six-month grace period.

Of the stocks I pictured above, Visteon, Pier 1, Rite Aid and Vonage are trading below $1 right now (Fannie and Freddie would also be included in this group), while Citi and GM are pushing it (in addition to Ford, AIG, Hovanian, Office Depot, Scripps, and many others). Of the 54 companies delisted last year, 29 of them were delisted for too-low share prices — I wonder how they feel about the NYSE suddenly realizing it can’t afford to have standards.