As budgetary pressures and burgeoning enrollment close in on
colleges and universities nationwide, many institutions are trying
to accelerate students’ road to graduation.
But The University of California is holding its course for now
and resisting pressure from the state Legislature to discourage
students from taking extra units and spending more time on a
university campus.
Some universities have already taken drastic steps.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported earlier this month
that state colleges in Pennsylvania may charge charge $192 for
every unit beyond 16 per quarter, and Texas universities may
forgive loans for students who graduate in four years.
“Universities that have capacity issues ““ especially
in the West and Southwest ““ are devising various ways to move
students through the “˜pipeline’ to graduation as soon
as possible,” said Clara Lovett, president of the American
Institute of Higher Education.
And California schools are under pressure to move students
through efficiently in order to admit as many eligible students as
possible.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposed an extra
charge for students at the UC and California State University
systems who take more than 110 percent of the classes required for
their majors. This plan’s objective is to avoid subsidizing
students who stay at the UC longer than the governor’s office
deems necessary. The CSU system may require transfer students to
take more classes before transferring so that they will graduate
earlier.
Even as the UC has had to cut enrollment for next year, UC
officials say punitive charges for taking more credits might not
save the university much money, and that UC transfer requirements
are already high.
“It is my understanding that the amount of money that the
governor proposes we could save for charging for extra units is far
inflated,” said George Blumenthal, faculty representative to
the UC Board of Regents and vice chairman of the UC Academic
Senate.
Blumenthal was referring to the $9.3 million the
governor’s budget suggests could be saved by eliminating
subsidies for unit loads beyond 110 percent of what is needed for
students to graduate.
Some legislatures have supported the charge for extra units
under the assumption that many students are staying at the
university longer than necessary, but Blumenthal said he doubts
lazy students are a big problem.
He said while students who take longer than four years to
graduate should be moved along, there are not enough students in
this situation where pushing them along would offset larger
problems.
Some majors, like engineering, have programs that are difficult
to complete in four years.
“Four and a quarter (years) is considered average,”
said Jose Moreno-Brooks, a first-year mechanical engineering
student.
He said many engineering students take at least an extra quarter
to graduate because it is difficult to take more than three classes
each quarter.
“These aren’t lazy people who are going to be
leeches on our economy for the next four years; these are people
who will really contribute in a direct way to the economy,”
he said.
UCLA received more applications last year than any other
university in the nation, and California’s finances are among
the country’s worst, but UC officials are taking more
moderate action than universities elsewhere.
“We are trying to make more efficient use of our resources
in a fairly gentle manner,” said Clifford Brunk, chairman of
the UCLA Academic Senate.
Brunk said encouraging students to graduate in four years is the
most efficient thing the university can do considering its severely
limited finances.
“We want to take the largest number of well-qualified
California students and provide them with the best education that
can be provided with the best available resources,” Brunk
said. “Anything we can do that would allow them to move
through in four years is a major savings.”
Brunk said in order to allow students to graduate in four years,
UCLA will shift some resources from elective classes to core
classes. He said core classes will be slightly larger, and will be
offered more frequently, while some elective courses will be
offered less frequently.