FSEC considers limiting course repeaters
The rising number of undergraduate students repeating courses—either for a higher grade or to erase a previous resignation from that course—is putting serious pressure on classes in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), forcing out some first-time students for those who’ve taken the course before, Bruce McCombe, dean of CAS, told the Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) yesterday during its final meeting of the fall semester.
UB currently has no policy in place that limits the number of times students can repeat a course, he said, noting that as a result freshmen and sophomores are being shut out of classes required to remain on track in their majors in favor of “repeater” students in their junior and senior years.
“From 2002 to last year, the total number of people repeating courses in [CAS] has about doubled,” said McCombe, citing statistics illustrating that repeater students rose from 462 in the 2003-04 academic year to 859 in 2007-08.
“On average,” he said, “about 9 percent of students taking courses in [CAS] have taken that course before.”
In an extreme case, he said it was found that one student had enrolled in the same math course 10 times.
The problem has been most evident in about 25 courses, mostly in the sciences, he said, where several courses reported repeater rates as high as 20 percent. Other disciplines, including psychology, also are affected.
“We have increased the number of seats available in several critical courses—at a substantial cost both to the department and to the college,” said McCombe. But, “there’s [still] a saturation of classroom space,” he added.
Repeater students also are costing UB tuition money, he said, noting that after 15 credit hours a student is permitted to register for an additional four credits at no extra cost—or more with the proper waiver.
In order to prevent students from “playing the system”—and to provide more first-time course registrants a fair shot an getting into their required classes—McCombe, along with others in CAS, are working with the Faculty Senate’s Grading Committee, chaired by William Baumer, professor of philosophy, to craft a proposal limiting the number of times students can register for a course—perhaps to as little as a single repeat registration—as well as restricting repeater students to courses offered during UB’s summer session.
If a student is unable to remain in Buffalo over the summer, Baumer said, the proposal authorizes repeater students to retake a comparable course at another SUNY campus for credit at UB. But he also said students seeking to retake a course for a higher grade should be limited to UB’s summer session.
Among concerns raised about the proposal was the potential impact on low-income students due to the lack of tuition assistance during the summer.
In other business, President John B. Simpson briefed senators on a meeting held yesterday morning in which he and other UB representatives met with approximately 70 members of the Western New York legislative delegation. He said the purpose of the event was to urge legislators to support various reforms, including easing government restrictions on UB and changing state tuition policies.
“The outcome was quite remarkable,” he said. “The politicians almost stampeded one other to stand up and endorse it. This was a very different situation than there was a year ago…they appear to be united across geographic and party lines to push for getting UB 2020 off to a good, firm start.”
Some reforms, such as putting an end to state pre-audits on large purchases, using third-party contractors to develop state land and providing UB access to capital raised through bonding, are likely to encounter relatively little resistance, especially in light of the current state financial crisis, said Simpson. Others changes, particularly implementing a “rational tuition policy”—in which tuition increases happen at a predictable and reasonable rate—might require more effort to convince lawmakers, he said.
Reader Comments