EDITORIAL: Additional time, smarter decisions
Last semester, Central Michigan University students spent an estimated $2.65 million on classes without receiving credit. Withdrawing from courses and wasting your tuition dollars is both fiscally irresponsible and unnecessary.
Students need to make better choices on course registration and we need more time to make them.
The university offers only one week, or two class meetings, to allow students to receive a full refund for dropping a registered course. Students have up to eight weeks to decide to withdraw with no refund.
One week is not enough time for students to make a thoughtful decision, and even less time for students to register for a replacement course.
After the deadline for phase one and phase two course registration, students can only register for a class with a bump card from a department chair. Often, by the time students decide to drop a course, it’s too late to join another.
Registrar Karen Hutslar said the current deadlines are adequate and her office hasn’t found a reason to change the current drop and withdrawal policy.
In the fall, students withdrew from 2,365 classes on campus. With most classes representing three credits, that’s 7,095 paid credit hours that will not be put toward completing a degree. That’s reason enough to consider adjusting the policy. It's also a sign of a problem CMU needs to address.
Although the university offers assistance in academic advising, Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services Steven Johnson released a report revealing severe understaffing.
According to the report, the ratio of students to professional advising staff is 1,000:1. In his enrollment management plan, he detailed plans to improve that ratio to 600:1, still shy of the ideal ratio of 300:1.
Our suggestion is simple. Extend the deadline for a full refund and leave course registration open for an additional week.
There are many reasons students choose to drop a course, with the decision falling into three major categories. Either the course was more difficult than anticipated, students simply disliked the instructor or students registered for the wrong class.
Regardless of the reason – especially with a lack of academic advisors – an extra two class periods allows students to make a more informed decision without fear of wasting their tuition dollars.
Michigan State University offers a three-week drop deadline for a full refund. Other schools like Grand Valley State University and Western Michigan University have more generous policies than CMU as well.
We encourage CMU to take another look at this policy and to grant students more time to decide to drop a course. Until that happens, the responsibility rests on the student to fully research a course prior to registration.
It’s our obligation to ensure that we’re in the courses that are the right fit for us, and although our time to make a decision is short – it’s still possible.
Although the first two sessions of most classes weigh heavily on syllabus review and icebreaker activities, they still serve as a model for how the class will go for the rest of the semester.
The first few days are also very revealing of the effectiveness of an instructor.
With SOS scores available on the course registration application and with websites like RateMyProfessor.com that give more detailed reviews, students are given the tools to select the courses that are right for them.
Until an adjustment is made – and one does need to be made – we need to begin making smarter decisions on course registration and stop allowing the university to take money for classes that we aren’t attending.
