Last week something occurred that should worry every Cal State Long Beach student. The Curriculum and Educational Policies Council suggested to Associated Students Inc. that a “cap” be placed on the number of units students can take before graduating. But what exactly does this mean?
If enacted to the letter, students would now be forced to graduate once they have reached 140 units and would not be able to change majors after completing 90 units. Transfer students from two-year colleges would have up to 70 transferred units count toward the cap and students transferring from four-year colleges would have 90 units count toward the limit.
In addition, transfer students from four-year universities would have to stick with the original major they were admitted under.
Even though the California State University system is in serious financial trouble, this sort of action cannot be tolerated. In essence, this plan would water down our education, an education we pay for.
What will happen to students who are double majoring? Will they have to drop an entire major to fit under the limit? Will they have to graduate and come back to school again to complete their second major? And what of other students who want additional credentials? These important details do not seem to be addressed.
It also seems rather unfair to not allow students to change majors. Imagine a transfer student or junior finding the major of his or her dreams at this great institution, only to have it snatched away by a unit cap.
If they are going to pay for the quality education CSULB offers, why not let them change their mind if they wish? It’s a free country after all, isn’t it? If this plan goes through, many students will lose a shot at achieving the education they deserve.
But let’s pretend this idea actually becomes reality. If prospective students know they can’t change their major after a certain amount of units, they could very well take their money elsewhere to receive their education.
So now not only are we out of money coming in from new students because of enrollment caps, the students who are being forced out sooner would not pay anything more to the university, further worsening CSULB’s financial situation. Since public universities are of such importance to our state’s economic well being, we cannot afford to gamble CSULB’s livelihood on such an endeavor.
If ASI representatives wish to keep their positions, they should condemn these policies — as they’ve indicated they will do — and offer alternative measures to the problem of long-term enrollment, instead of allowing the university to endanger the type of education students have paid for.
This measure would certainly affect thousands of students who have two majors, have a minor, or want additional credentials from CSULB. They will not take kindly to having their educational plans changed on them.
We can only hope that our representatives have the reasoning and conscience to do the morally right thing and allow us, the paying students, to keep our educational plans the way we want them. If they do not, they will certainly face angry constituents during the next ASI elections.
Stuart Schmidt is a double major in journalism and recreation and leisure studies, and is a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.