A new policy on repeat enrollments will restrict students from repeating the same course multiple times.
Effective Aug. 1, 2009, “a maximum of 16 semester units in which a student earned less than a C grade are eligible for grade forgiveness and may be repeated for the purpose of excluding grades from the computation of student’s overall GPA,” according to the Undergraduate Policy on Repeating Courses at California State University, Northridge.
The policy also states that an additional 12 units may be repeated for grade averaging, giving students a second chance on a total of 28 units. “The limits apply to all courses taken at CSUN, whether a student is matriculated or enrolled through self-support such as Extended Learning,” notes the policy.
“It is going to be tough this fall for people who need to repeat classes,” said Cynthia Rawitch, associate vice president of Undergraduate Studies. However, “over time students will understand they cannot repeat unlimited courses.”
“This policy is not fair for those students who are already in the hole,” asked Kristen Van Kallen, a sophomore communication disorders major. “What are we going to do?” she asked.
“Lower division classes may be taken at community colleges, upper division classes could be taken at Channel Islands or any of the greater Los Angeles basin campuses and transferred to CSUN,” explained Rawitch. It cannot replace the course needed but at least the credit will count toward graduation, she added.
The policy indicates “students cannot improve grades of courses taken at CSUN by repeating them at another institution.” At the same token, “students cannot improve grades of courses taken at another institution by repeating them at CSUN,” states the policy.
“They are trying to make it look like it is for students, when it really might be for budget cuts,” said Ayo Kepher-Matt, a sophomore CTVA major.
In addition, “undergraduate students may take an individual course no more than three times. Only one repeat per course is permitted for improving the grade, with the higher of the two grades counted in the student’s GPA,” indicates the policy.
The third time a student enrolls in a class, “the units attempted and any grade points earned will be averaged with all other grades earned for the course,” states the policy.
The policy also notes, “on the third enrollment in a course, permission of the associate dean of the college of the student’s major is necessary.”
“I do not think there should be a limit to how many times a student takes a class,” said Nahom Haybano, a sophomore undeclared major.
Nonetheless, “in spring 2009, 6000 courses were repeated. That is a lot of courses,” said Rawitch.
Plagiarism is never tolerated, as “grade forgiveness is not applicable in courses for which the original grade was the result of a finding of academic dishonesty,” exclaims the policy.
“This coming fall, students cannot enroll in any class to repeat the class until the first day of fall classes,” said Rawitch. “That is not part of the new policy, it is just a procedure for this fall due to dictated budgets,” she noted.
“They make it seem that students just do not care,” said Marisol Puga, a senior sociology major. “They should reconsider,” she added.
“We are not doing this so that people get thrown out of the university,” said Rawitch. “This is about getting students to graduate more quickly.”
