A group of more than 40 students gathered on Thursday along with
representatives from the undergraduate student government and the
UCLA College to discuss a possible reconsideration of the expected
cumulative progress requirement.
The requirement was put in place in 2001 and is designed to keep
students at full-time status, or taking 45 units per year.
A number of students present at the town hall meeting, organized
by the Undergraduate Students Association Council, shared their
experiences with ECP and spoke of the ways the requirement has kept
them from getting the wholistic education they came to UCLA
for.
“I made it to UCLA and I should be able to stay here and
take my courses,” said Diana Aldapa, third-year sociology and
Chicana/o studies student.
Aldapa held back tears as she shared her story about how she was
not able to meet the requirement and still be involved in
activities she feels are important, as a result of monetary and
family reasons.
Campus Events Commissioner Jason Gaulton was among students who
spoke about the requirement.
He described the requirement as an unfair burden to students and
described it as “having a devil on your shoulder.”
Judy Smith, vice provost of The College, said the ECP
requirement is intended to help students make steady progress
toward a degree.
“Our intention is to primarily have (students) look at
their needs and experiences and work out an academic plan,”
Smith said.
She added that she realizes that students want to embrace
everything the university has to offer, but said they need to set
priorities for themselves.
Smith explained there has only been one student who was subject
to discontinuation ““ temporary dismissal for repeatedly
falling behind ““ in the three-year history of the
requirement.
Once discontinued, the student was advised to make up the
credits elsewhere and is able to return to UCLA once the credits
are earned.
Smith said it takes a lot for studentsto reach that stage since
there are a number of steps along the way that are designed to
prevent it from happening.
These steps include counseling sessions, where students are
expected to create a contract with the help of their counselor, in
order to avoid further problems concerning the requirement.
Smith compared UCLA to schools like UC San Diego and Berkeley
and said though as a group students from these campuses were not
very different, the UCLA students were not taking enough units to
be considered full-time students.
Smith said the university receives state funding for every
full-time student attending and UCLA could potentially lose sums of
money as high as $4 million as a result of students ignoring the
unit requirements.
“The state allocates a certain amount of money for
instruction. It’s not that we make money from each
(student),” said Janina Montero, vice chancellor of student
affairs.