Page 6
The Behrend Beacon
UK considering graduation contract
to keep students on 4
by Steve Lannen
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Like fishermen returning from
a day on the boat, almost all Uni
versity of Kentucky students have
a story about a class that got away.
It was only offered at the same
time as another required class. It
was only offered every other se
mester. The professor who teaches
the class got sick or was on sab
batical. And the student ended up
staying another semester to get
that class and graduate.
If that happens, UK should pay
the extra tuition, says Tony
Stoeppel, a student government
senator.
Stoeppel, an engineering major,
would like to see UK offer a
graduation contract. Students
would agree to stay on track to
graduate by passing classes and
taking a full load, or close to it,
every semester. They’d work with
advisors to make sure they're
meeting requirements.
In return, UK would agree to
pay the extra tuition if students had
to stay longer than four years be
cause required courses weren't
available when they needed them.
Only about one-fourth of new
UK freshmen graduate in four
years. The reasons are complex,
and even the contract’s support
ers acknowledge it wouldn’t work
for every student.
But still, UK’s faculty and aca
demic leaders are interested in the
idea, which is done at schools such
as the University of tbwa arid In
diana University with varying de
grees of success.
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UK Provost Mike Nietzel said
he is intrigued by the contract idea,
which he thinks could help stu
dents and UK's graduation rate
without costing too much.
“It will focus both the student
and the institution earlier on what
it takes to be successful,” he said.
Jobs, course requirements,
scheduling and plain old avoid
ance of the 8 a.m. class all play a
role in why students are staying
longer than four years, students
and professors say.
At UK and other schools, stu
dents increasingly work to pay for
school, rent or just spending
money. Work schedules often de
termine how many classes a stu
dent can take each semester, rather
than the other way around.
In the College of Agriculture,
agronomy professor Bill Thom es
timates that about 40 percent of his
students work 30 or more hours
per week.
It would be almost impossible
for those students to participate in
the contract, he said, because they
often cannot take a full load.
Stoeppel said a UK graduation
contract could be based on credit
hours instead of years, or even
offer five- or six-year contracts for
some students.
A task force is expected to draft
a proposal, which could go before
trustees for approval as early as the
end of the semester.
A possible downside to the con
tract is that students might not be
able to take all the elective courses
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take time off to work.
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Stoeppel readily says the con
tract isn’t for everyone, but thinks
it should be an option for those
who want to do it.
“For those students that come to
this institution with the mentality
to do that, the university should
clear the way for that to happen,”
he said.
Clearing the way is where it
could get tough, said George
Mehaffy, vice president for aca
demic leadership and change with
the American Association of Col
leges and Universities.
Departments will have to review
their courses degree by degree,
and work with the registrar's of
fice to figure out course schedul
ing and whether it’s possible to of
fer more course sections.
In majors such as engineering
and architecture, it's become ac
cepted that students will not
graduate in four years.
“At the operational level, this
stuff will get pretty sticky,”
Mehaffy said.
History professor Kathi Kern
hopes the committee looks at UK's
degree requirements. "It seems to
me we have a lot of requirements
here. Are (students) really meet
ing the kinds of requirements we
want them to meet?" she asked.
Katie Whitney would say no.
The sophomore just transferred
from Syracuse University, but is
stuck taking introductory math
ematics, basic logic and English
courses. She tested out of them at
Syracuse, but UK wouldn’t accept
the credits because she didn’t take
actual college courses, she said.
“I’m bored out of my mind, but
nch
Friday, April 5, 2002
year plan
I have to take them because it’s
university requirements,” the jour
nalism major said. She’s taking six
classes this semester and still plans
to graduate in four years.
When it comes to scheduling,
philosophy and English major
Marcus Baks has seen first-hand
the conflicts. His required “Is
lamic and Jewish Philosophy”
class met at the same time as a
“Symbolic Logic” class, also re
quired for graduation.
There were no other course sec
tions offered at different times, he
said. In another case, his “Philoso
phy of Science” class was can
celed this semester because the
professor injured his back.
“I’ll have to take summer
classes now,” Baks said.
Nietzel said the university will
probably have to allow more sub
stitutions of courses to keep stu
dents on track, something UK is
starting to do more of already.
Advising plays a role in getting
students on track, but class avail
ability is a bigger problem, says
senior Keith Birchfield.
“I don’t think it’s realistic un
less they hire more professors to
teach more classes,” he said.
Birchfield used to work part
time in the statistics department
and saw business and economic
majors shut out of a required
course because it was filled.
“There was nothing we could do.
We couldn’t open another section
because there was not enough
money to hire another teacher,” he
said.
Birchfield says the contract will
work for students who are focused
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pop
and know what they want to do
when they enter UK. That’s not the
majority, he believes.
Most of his friends who have
graduated took five years because
they changed majors. He started
at UK as a freshman in 1997 and
won’t graduate until next year.
For a year and a half, he only
went to school part-time, ques
tioning whether he really wanted
to be a philosophy major. He’s
now a sociology major.
“For me, college has been about
finding a direction, not just a de
gree,” he said. “If I hadn’t had that
time off and maybe stuck to a con
tract, I might be stuck with a de
gree I didn't want.”
And then there's the issue of
class times. Many students just
don’t like to take classes before 10
a.m. or after 2 p.m
Just the other week, 10 seniors
pleaded with Kern, the history
professor, to be let into her entry
level, American history class.
They told her hardship stories
about how they needed the class
to graduate this spring, or they
tried to flatter her.
Her class was already filled with
240 students, but she felt bad
about their situations. So she e
mailed the seniors and said they
could take her class, but would
have to take the section at 8 a.m.
Not one took her up on the of
fer.
“Some students just don’t want
to take early classes. A lot of this
is part of student culture,” she said.
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