Supplemental costs for more units posed

The extra time college students often take to explore options
before finishing their degree may cost more than they expected.

To ease the state’s budget crisis, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger proposed to eliminate subsidies to all undergraduate
University of California students who take more than 10 percent
beyond the requirement of the minimum number of units required to
graduate.

The minimum unit requirement at UCLA for most undergraduate
majors is 180 units. If the proposal is implemented, most students
may be required to pay supplemental fees for any additional units
they take beyond 198 units.

The decision to impose any fee increases falls on the UC Board
of Regents, which is to discuss the issue in its meeting today.

Another option is to lower the unit maximum from the current
maximum of 216. Academic regulations are decided by the academic
senate of each individual campus.

With the budget process only in its preliminary stages, it is
difficult to assess the proposal’s significance, said Steve
Olsen, UCLA vice chancellor for budget and finance.

“We’re trying to learn what it is the governor is
proposing. … The information is limited to what he included (in
the proposal),” Olsen said, adding that he could not estimate
details of the potential unit fee increase.

Due to the lack of details in the governor’s budget,
university officials also said they are uncertain how this proposal
will affect UCLA academic issues, such as the unit cap or the
expected cumulative progress requirements.

If the proposal passes, it will limit student options, as
students may try to stay below the 198 unit threshold, said Robin
Garrell, chairwoman of the Faculty Executive Committee of the
College of Letters & Science.

“Students might be discouraged from taking courses that do
not fulfill specific requirements; from choosing double majors, or
certain combinations of majors and minors; or from participating in
courses such as honors sections, journal club and research group
seminars,” she said.

Limited choices may cause hurt the college experience, said
Penny Hein-Unruh, director of the College’s Academic
Counseling Office.

Part of this experience is exploring, Hein-Unruh said, adding
that most students come to campus not knowing what field of study
they are going to pursue.

She added that if such a policy was implemented, the counseling
office would take efforts to educate students.

“We would do everything we could to make sure students
weren’t taken by surprise,” Hein-Unruh said.

Some students were concerned about the lack of flexibility the
proposal would cause.

“A lot of students need more classes to find out what they
want to major in because you take a class and find out it’s
not what you want. You need leeway,” said Jody Rucks, a
first-year African American studies student.

Given the current budget crisis, other students said they
understood the cause of the proposal and the governor’s wish
to enact it.

Megan McNaught, a second-year biology student, said she believes
taking extra units is a privilege and that the proposal is
understandable, as long as it is not permanent.

“Generally, I don’t think education should face
budget cuts, but since we are facing such a deficit, sacrifices
have to be made,” she said.

Other proposals for the UC include raising undergraduate fees 10
percent, graduate fees 40 percent, decreasing future enrollment,
and cutting funding to outreach programs.

While Jason Avila, a second-year sociology student, said he had
reservations about the fee increases for extra units, he still
believed it was better than enrollment restrictions.

“It pushes people to graduate quicker. … It’s not
fair that you’re here taking away from others that might need
it,” he said.

But some majors not in the College of Letters & Science
require students to take numerous classes. Electrical engineering,
for example, requires 42 courses (including labs) for
graduation.

Daniel Serquina, a fourth-year electrical engineering student,
said he likely will graduate with more than 198 units. Though he
believes the proposal makes sense in theory, it may not work in
practice.

“It’d be good because it would encourage people to
finish sooner, but sometimes the UCs prevent students from being
able to graduate on time,” he said, noting that students have
difficulty in getting the classes they need.