For the past few years, I noticed the “degree expected
term” button on the URSA Web site main page. I knew what it
was for, but I never bothered to click it, perhaps because it would
just signal another step toward my impending graduation, but also
because like most college students, I assumed someone would tell me
when I needed to do it.
Well, I was wrong, and my wallet is $13 lighter for it.
That’s because UCLA charges its students a late fee for not
declaring their expected graduation term by the time they’ve
gotten credit for 160 units (172 units for engineering students),
which gives them senior standing.
But UCLA does not publicize this deadline, so when students
learned about this policy from me they were not amused.
“I think that’s (ridiculous),” said
fourth-year political science student Shara Seligman, who was
assessed the late fee.
“Especially if they are not warning us ““ maybe UCLA
does it so they can give money to the chancellor so he can buy a
cup of coffee.”
My thoughts exactly. Though I would think it would be something
a bit more extravagant than that.
It’s interesting that whenever I told an unaware student
about the late fee, he or she almost immediately speculated that
somehow the chancellor got his hands on the late fee money and used
the funds for some nefarious/ridiculous plot.
But I should tell you that is simply not the case.
The late fee funds go into the general fund offset account.
Money in this account is given back to the UC Office of the
President to cover debts UCLA incurs by borrowing money from the
University of California. Money amassed in this account is usually
not enough to cover what is owed to the UC.
The real problem here is that the university is insulting
students by calling the $13 charge a “late fee.” It
cannot be late if students have never been made aware of any
deadline for declaring a graduation term.
And if you declare in time but later change your expected
graduation term after accumulating 160 units, you are still
assessed the late fee.
While workers in the registrar’s office and the academic
counselors insist that the fee is meant to impel students to
declare their graduation terms so that the university can prepare
to graduate students, I think that by not better publicizing the
deadline, UCLA is unfairly helping itself to $13 from each
student.
“The purpose of the fee is to make students’
behavior meet with time frames that work with the college,”
said Anita Cotter, associate registrar. “The college needs to
know when final quarter work can get started.”
Cotter noted that the late fee is on the list of UCLA
miscellaneous fees and the academic calendar, both of which can be
found somewhere on the registrar’s Web site. But come on, how
often do you peruse that site in your spare time?
Once students declare their expected graduation term, degree
auditors in the registrar’s office begin reviewing each
student’s file, making sure each student has completed his or
her major coursework and all of the academic requirements that need
to be met in order to graduate.
I’m a history student, and on Thursday I got to meet my
degree auditor, Rochelle Gutierrez. Eight workers are part of the
degree unit in the registrar’s office.
I had a nice talk with Gutierrez, and she said she would
thoroughly examine my file (the degree auditors don’t accept
gratuities or bribes, trust me).
Since I talked to Gutierrez, I’ve been wondering just how
many students are assessed the $13 fine. I think the number is
quite high, since many of the seniors I’ve spoken with only
learned about the fee when I explained it to them.
While Cotter said she did not know the number of students who
are assessed the fee (and the person who would have access to that
data is on vacation), when the subject came up among several
workers in the registrar’s office, it was intimated that a
very large number of students get the late fee.
Maybe some students aren’t angry about the fee because $13
does not seem like much, but clearly it adds up.
Just as a hypothetical, let’s say that each year 6,000
students are assessed the fee (there are about 7,000 students in
each graduating class). Annually, that’s $78,000 for the
general fund offset account.
“I think they could care less about the $13,”
academic counselor Cathy Behrens said.
“They don’t want your money, they want a work
flow.”
If UCLA doesn’t want money, perhaps it could find a way to
publicize the late fee.
Cotter said the registrar is discussing a new URSA Web site
feature that would notify students about the late fee via a pop-up
window when students are approaching 160 units. That’s a
brilliant idea ““ it seems easy enough to execute, and it
should be implemented immediately.
“Maybe they should give incentives to declaring your term
early,” said fourth-year history student Asha Subas.
Yeah, like a cup of coffee.
And now, if you’ve made it to the end of the column, you
get a reward: While investigating this matter, I learned that there
is actually another fine that can be tacked on to the $13 fee.
It’s a $10 fee that is assessed to graduating seniors who
don’t declare their degree expected term by the last day of
the second week of their final quarter at UCLA.
I guess it pays to pay attention.
E-mail Miller at dmiller@media.ucla.edu.