By Rebecca Heath
News Editor
Full-time students have been able to register for an ‘unlimited’ number of courses — as long as they are granted dean approval — without an increase in tuition since the College’s establishment, but that policy will change this spring semester.
The College is slated to implement a variation of the course overload model found in a majority of higher education institutions across the state, according to Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jeffrey Osborn.
This new approach will only allow students to take up to ten courses per academic year at the College’s standard tuition rate. For additional classes, students will be charged in alignment with the cost of course units, which varies for in-state and out-of-state students.
“We’re catching up to how most campuses do business here,” Osborn said via Zoom. “We don't want to limit students' opportunities and flexibility to take the courses they want, but we're not guaranteeing five minors at no additional cost.”
Osborn said this strategy is part of an ongoing effort to improve student success.
“Sometimes students enroll in more courses than is required and they think they can do really well, but in fact it's a lot of work and then they don't do as well as they could,” Osborn said. “We want to help students finish on time and be successful.”
In an effort to ensure prospective overloaders will be able to maintain their grade point average while balancing the additional workload, they will still be required to visit their respective dean’s office, fill out a form and gain approval prior to registration.
“Your dean is going to ask some pretty hard questions…we don't want you to overstretch yourself,” Osborn explained. “At the same time, we want to give you agency and allow you to determine that.”
Though Osborn noted the number of students taking more than five courses in a given semester is already limited, he hopes the new model will help prevent students from “occupying spots in courses that are required for other students to take as part of their major.”
Some students, like engineering majors, are given strict class schedules they need to follow in order to graduate in four years. Class of 2027 engineering schedules have been modified to only have five or less credits per semester, with an optional sixth credit, but if a student fails just one class they will have to overload.
And with only three “college core” courses, formally known as liberal learning, built into the curriculum, junior civil engineering major Ethan Moyer said finding classes that fulfill multiple requirements, which is a necessity to avoid overloading, proves challenging.
“We don't really have much room in our four-year schedule to take [college core courses] because the rest are taken up by required engineering classes,” said Moyer. “So, if I want to graduate on time I have to find liberal learning classes that satisfy like three requirements, or else I'd have to overload.”
Nonetheless, Osborn emphasized that the new model will largely benefit students.
“This approach is designed to help students stay on track, graduate on time, and to be successful. And to allow us to serve as many students as we can,” Osborn said.
While the new model will remain in place for the foreseeable future, Osborn said a revised version that caps students at only nine courses per academic year without a tuition upcharge is currently in the works.
“But until we can put in place a logistical and administrative system that will accommodate that, we're capping it at five course units per semester,” he said.
