UVCC College Times, 1990-08-29

              C3 11 imes THIS WEEK Campus Ngvs EMT class available, See page 5. New student I.D. Wolverine Wallet Cards. See page 8. Four-year degrees offered at UVCC by way of Weber State and USU. See page 6. ?ports 1990 Intramural's Calendar and information. See pages 14 and 15. Community High-tech jobs available in Utah County. See page 13. Commentary Student Views: What's that "thing" in the courtyard? See page 3. Letters to the Editor. See pages 2, 3, and 4. Index News .... 1,5,6.8 Fnterfainment. 12 Community , 9,13 Sports 14,15 Misc. , 14,16 New semester system surfaces Problems pertaining to credit hours addressed Maci Nielsen Editor-in-Chief Since UVCC has made the transition from quarters to semesters, a number of concerns from both students and faculty have surfaced. UVCC President Kerry D. Romesburg has expressed a concern that students are not registering for full-time schedules which will most likely put them behind in plans for graduating in two years. UVCC students have been registering for 12 credit hours thinking that is full-time. 12 credit hours is full-time when it comes to retaining grants, waivers, stipends, etc. However, on a semester program the average full-time schedule is 15 to 16 credits when it comes to earning enough credit hours for students to graduate in two years which is usually what the majority plans to do at a two-year college. "We as an institution try to respond to the students and community. Two of the greatest demands ar students want morning classes, and they want them on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays," said Dr. Nancy Smith, Director of Institutional Research and Strategic Planning. She continued: "The work load of that schedule is usually only 12 credits which means students don't realize they are not meeting the national average semester work-load of 15 credit hours." One semester is equal to one and one-half quarter. Five credit hours on the quarter system is equal to three credit hours on the semester system. Looking at the conversion of quarter credit hours to semester credit hours, one will find that the hours balance out evenly and no credits are lost. volume 19 issue 1 29 August 1990 utah valley Photo by Johnnie Rawllnson Students, such as the ones pictured above, spent summer time registering for classes. However, as statistics have shown, students don't realize the average work load on the semester system is 15 to 16 credits. With a quarter system, UVCC students had to obtain 96 credit hours (55 required, 41 elective) to graduate with the Associates of ArtsSciences degrees. On a semester program, students must acquire 64 credit hours (36 required, 28 elective) to graduate with an Associates degree. "We don't want students to get short changed because of the semesters," said Val Peterso, Director of College Rela tionson. "Students don't realize that in order to graduate in two years on a semester program, they have to take 15 to 16 credits per semester, just like they had to takearound 12credits per quar ter to graduate in two years on a quarter system." The adddrop date has been extended so students can register for more classes to become full-time. If it is money students are concerned about, there is basically no extra charge to add classes. ... 12 credits cost $561. 14 credits cost $597. 16 credits also cost $597 which means there is absolutely no addition cost froml4creditstol6credits. And the cost from 12 credits to 16 credits is only $36. Funding for the school is done by Full Time Equivalent (FTE) rather than by community college concerns JM3( a head count. The FTE for UVCC is 15 credit hours. Since this is UVCC's first semester, future funding will be determined by enrollment figures of this fall semester. Not only is there a concern about students not being full-time and taking longer to graduate, but there is also a concern that funding for future years will be much less than it should be because students are not pulling full loads now. This is a concern because as UVCC continues to grow in years to come, the funding for the school will be short of what it See SEMESTER, page 10