"Full-time" requirements absurd, misleading

Students forced to choose between working and normative academic pace

By Nicole Tropf
The Collegian

IT’S WELL-KNOWN among students that in order to be full-time college-goers, a minimum of 12 units are required. But for those with hopes of graduating in the typically assumed four years, 12 units just doesn’t seem like enough.

All majors require general education as a prerequisite into their program and so undergraduates aren’t aware of the grueling path ahead of them.

When did a four-year college experience become a five-to-six year plan?

To get out in the “normal” graduating time, a student should enroll in a minimum of 15 units each semester and if that is still not enough, may have to enroll either in more units or in summer semesters.

But, there are also the other factors that play an intense role in helping college students veer off-track from graduating in four years.

Work is an obligation that many students have to engage in just to be able to fund their college lifestyle: bills, gas and books all need to be paid for.

If work is factored into the equation, the time for the three extra units that is recommended — an additional 9 hours a week — seems absurd.

Then, to juggle the already overloaded schedule between the necessities of work and full-time enrollment the college life wouldn’t be a college experience without some social glamour added to the mix.

More time and energy is ripped away when students meet with friends or spend time with family.

All students need a break from the working and studying world, but socializing takes time away from enrolling in extra units that would help keep additional years from being tagged on to graduation.

It seems ridiculous that colleges and insurance companies all say that 12 units is the least amount a student needs in order to be considered a full-timer.

But for the students who are paying off loans and purchasing units while struggling to survive the stress of graduating on time, the minimal requirement needs to be increased to 15 units, making students aware that graduating in four years is going to be a full-time ‘job.’

In the end, it is up to the students to decide which part of their lives they are willing to forfeit in order to succeed in college.

As a student who has been drafted for the five-to-six year plan, I have a few words of advice.

Cash in — take those “rain checks” for graduation and finish what you’ve already started, even if it did begin six years ago.

It’ll all be worth it in the end.

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