Monday, February 8, 2010
Are Universities really a Four Year College?
Colleges are there to help us further our education and find better jobs to help support better lives. Most of us prefer beginning to further our education at a four year institute. Why is that? It is because a four year college seems to be more promising than a community or technical college. But does it only take four years to complete a Bachelors degree? In most four year colleges you will need 120 credit hours to graduate. 12 hours each semester is considered full time. Four 3 credit classes will equal full time hours. Four classes for winter and fall semesters only counts up to 96 hours in four years. This means taking more classes for the winter and fall semesters and/or taking classes in the summer. That does not include the internship or senior project. Does that seem fair to those of us who have jobs, children, or both? All of those classes would be so time time consuming that there you won't have time for the other things in your life. Now it is time to drop a few or sign up for less classes, again taking longer than four years. What about those classes that you really don't need for your future career but only take them to earn more credits to graduate? Is that really necessary or is it a waste of time? I know it is better to take classes you don't need than to need classes and not take them but college is to expensive. By all means I am not trying to discourage anyone but want to know if I am the only one who feels this way. I have not been able to take four and five five classes every semester and of course that takes longer, my life is still going on and I am not getting any younger. Guess I am ready to move on with my life.
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I agree with you 100%! To even consider graduating within the four years you either have to have alot of credit hours you took during highschool, take more hrs during the spring/fall or take a full load of summer classes each year. Is it false advertisement? Yes in a way it is, because for a normal full time college student you will not graduate in 4yrs taking 12hrs spring/fall.
ReplyDeleteI am with you about taking all these classes to add up to 120hrs that we do not even need because we can not graduate without them. College is not cheap and for colleges to make you take extra classes for hours only not experience is something I do not agree with.
When I was a freshmen I got grants because my mom was single. I went completely free but after a year I felt like it was a waste, so the next semester I didnt really work hard and decided to stop after that semester. I am now returning almost a year 1/2 later to cont. with my degree. Yet now I am married and we make to much for grants so I am already covered in student loans in this one year I have been back. So now I look at college differently now that I am paying and not going for free. These classes and hours that we have to take that have nothing to do with our degrees is a waste of time.
But I agree Im not telling anyone not to go to college, I just think its rediculous how things are. I am just ready to be done!
I agree that Colleges are not "4 Years" anymore. I think what happen is before 1980 students had to have 96 /or 104 credits to graduate and thru the years courses keep being added and not any deleted. I knew when I started back because of going part-time that it was going to take me longer but I didn't realize that if you receive a "scholarship" it only pays for Spring/Fall so that means even if you are taking the full "12 credit" hours you can't graudate in 4 years. I think the schools need to take alot of unnessisary classes out of the required courses and reduce the credits to no more than 112.
ReplyDeleteI also have heard from "newer" students that even more required classes have been added to some specific degrees; like Public Administration is going to be a 5 year requirement, before you get your degree. Two of my Teachers have already sent me an e-mail verifying it. The thing is why should I go an extra year for a degree that says 5 years when I know the way the system is set up it will take me closer to six (6)years now. Because now if you're going full time "4" years is 5 years already and if I want to go to Grad school that will even be another 18 months unless you are like me and will get 6 months off the way the credits are due to my work history being in the Public for 30 years.
If they are going to make the system be "4" years then they need to change (reduce) the required credit load if they are not then they need to advertise and make known to students and parents that it will be 5 or 6 years.
That changes a lot of time and money.
I am glad that the new Tennessee College Program is puting an emphesis on Community Colleges where students can now have a better choice of "Associate" Degrees and that they can enroll in a "Full Fledge College" (don't want to use 4 years as we know it takes more than that) as a Junior and everything they take at the Community Colleges will transfer and the student will be a Junior automaticly.
The system definitely needs to be improved.
I agree with you. I have been in favor of reducing the number of required general education classes for state institutions. I don't think that students are getting what they need out of them. I do believe the English classes are needed because we need to be able to communicate, but there are other areas that could be cut easily.
ReplyDeleteColleges are progressively moving from institutions for education to major buisnesses. It is almost as if the curriculum is set up to get more money from you than to educate you.
ReplyDeleteI understand were you are coming from and I want to know that samething. I really think that they know that its going to take longer for students to graduate, this is how Collages and Universities make there money its all about business to them. I wish universities weren't so expensive I cost to much just to get a better education, why can't college be like public schools, you only pay school fees, like $60.00 a semester and that be the end of it? But it doesn't work that way. Anyways I wish there was a faster and easier way to finish school with the same amount of hours but there isn't.
ReplyDeleteI agree that English is a necessity. I also think every student should have to take at least one history and government (we need to know our constitution so we can better defend our rights, and not just rely on our legislators. But I think that Statistics, Sociology and some other classes should be "degree" related more than they are. I will never use Statistics yet, I had to have two semesters of it, Calculus the same, I can understand where maybe a Business degree might need them but not for everyone. I have two doctors that told me they too had to take stats, they think it was a waste of time and money. I agree with them 100% because I also believe that Calculus, Sociology, and Statistics were a waste of my time and money. These would have taken care of one less semester just three(3)classes.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this is a problem in society because 'the 4-year plan' was created ages ago in a different place, time and society. During that time is when only "traditional" students were common. When I say "traditional" or Ts, these are students who are, recently high school graduates, ages 18-23, single, unemployed, have no children and live with their parent(s). Basically, these students have the time, money, and support to attend college year round in order to complete 'the 4-year plan'. These are also families who seem to leave no room for unexpected, life changing obstacles that may come along the way.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, I too agree with the fact that universities are NOT really 4-year colleges. I agree because the fact of the matter is that the "non-traditional" student, or NTs numbers are high and continuing to rise.
Personally, I AM an NTs who is 23, married, began college immediately after high school and has been employed since age 14; along with health issues that I have had over the years. However, I feel I have made it this far for a reason and am not going to cease in striving. Since I realized that 'the 4-year plan' does not strive to fit certain lifestyles, it somehow motivates me to keep going and not dwell on the statistics or the misguided '4-year plan'.
I would rather accept life's struggles and further my education on the 5-6 year plan adequately than to have hastily finished society's '4 year plan' inadequately.
I have been going to school off and on for the past 10 years. I took time off to travel, but now I'm back and almost finished. And by finished, I mean that I should hopefully be graduating next spring. Throughout my time in school, I have only taken the required amount for full-time, which is the 12 hours per semester, and I have been pretty lucky. It's a little embarassing to be me around all of my friends because I'm pretty much the only one of us without a degree. However, I can't really complain about the life I have lived. Anyway, I completely agree with you. These classes that we are forced to have, that we will probably never use in the professions that we choose, are a bit ridiculous. Why aren't we able to just take the classes needed for what we want our career path to be?
ReplyDelete