• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

Though most students look forward to graduation, fifth-year student Kendrick Lo is doing all he can to stay an extra quarter at UCLA.

Lo is five classes away from graduating with a double major in psychology and economics, but will instead graduate with only a degree in economics because he is over his unit limit. At the end of this quarter, he will be at 219 units; his cap is 216.

“I’m not asking to stay six or seven years, I just want one more quarter. I’m so close,” Lo said.

He is currently listed as an economics and pre-psychology major, but says the psychology department did not even consider allowing him into the major since he applied with a high number of units.

Irina Tauber, a psychology counselor, said because of Lo’s outstanding number of units, the decision on whether to approve him as a psychology major was not up to the department.

“The rules said by the (College of) Letters & Science are that students have to be able to finish everything by the unit max; each department has to check on that before approving a major,” she said.

The individual departments are also bound by state legislation mandating a unit cap be placed in some form at all the University of California campuses. Once students have exceeded their unit cap, the state will no longer fund their education.

“Students are admitted with the understanding that they are entitled to four years,” said Margaret Tchakerian, assistant director of academic counseling for the College.

If Lo had been able to officially declare the psychology major he would have been allowed to complete 228 units as a double major. This unit extension does not apply to students admitted in or after fall 2001, who must graduate with no more than 216 units even if they have multiple majors or minors.

Lo came to UCLA without knowing which career path he wanted to pursue. Though it wasn’t until his third year that he chose a definite major, Lo said the time and classes it took him to make up his mind were necessary.

“I think the most important thing about college is deciding what you want to do. I don’t see how the university can expect you to make that life-impacting decision right away,” he said.

Lo has filed several petitions and an appeal. All have been denied. His last petition was denied a few weeks ago. It was then he realized he would be graduating this quarter, whether he liked it or not. Though he is still fighting the denial, he is not optimistic.

The unit cap is also preventing other students from taking courses they desire. Matthew Ashtiani, a second-year student who was admitted into the political science major, wanted to switch to engineering, but did not do so because he would not have been able to take all the engineering courses without exceeding the cap.

“I understand the need to educate as many students as possible, but the unit cap has students caring more about whether they will finish in time than learning,” he said.

Lo, a student in the Academic Advancement Program, believes counselors have been discouraging him from pursuing a double major rather than offering solutions.

“All they told me was, ‘No, don’t do it.’ They’re not giving me solutions, they’re just telling me ‘no’,” he said.

But Masai Minters, the director of counseling for AAP, said the AAP counselors work with their students to help “open doors.”

“Our counselors are trained to give options – we don’t make their decisions – but we try to give them as many options as possible,” he said. “I can’t dispute what the student heard, but it’s not what we do.”

For students who must exceed the unit cap to complete their necessary courses, Tchakerian recommends a community college. Once students have 105 quarter units from either a UC or a community college, they can take courses at a community college for “subject credit.” The student will receive credit for having taken the course, but will not receive units.

Lo said he was unaware of this provision. Had he known, he would “definitely” have taken advantage of it.

After graduating, Lo plans to apply exclusively to business schools. Originally, when he thought he would be able to double major, he had planned to apply to both business schools and graduate programs in psychology.

“My gripe with the administration is that they don’t realize how much their decisions affect people’s lives,” he said.