Policy aims to push students out

UNC is making it more difficult for students to take a fifth-year “victory lap.”

The University has implemented a policy that requires students to finish their degree requirements in four years, replacing the previous system that allowed students a ninth semester.

The new policy affects the class of 2011 and after; students who enrolled in fall 2007 or later.

Bobbi Owen, senior associate dean for undergraduate education, said she hopes the new policy will encourage students to finish their degrees in eight semesters.

“We really want our students to graduate on time, and if they can’t, we need to understand why,” Owen said.

The new policy has elicited concerns about the stress it could put on students.

Trey Kenemer, a ninth-semester senior and transfer student from UNC-Wilmington, said the new policy puts a lot of pressure on new students and transfers.

“It almost makes it that you have to come in knowing exactly what you want to major in,” Kenemer said.

Under the new policy, students who are not on track to graduate in the allotted amount of time will be notified and must petition to stay at UNC.

“The petitions are handled by the College of Arts and Sciences, and a board carefully reviews each student’s petition,” Owen said.

The College will look at petitions on a case-by-case basis to determine if the student has a legitimate reason to take extra semesters, Owen said.

If the petition is denied, the student cannot stay.

Owen said that about 76 percent of UNC students graduate in eight semesters, compared to 94 percent of Duke University students.

“As a competitive university, we have to investigate why students aren’t graduating on time and encourage students to work toward that four-year degree,” Owen said.

She added that if students are staying extra semesters, it prevents new students from being admitted.

And with only a 22 percent admission rate for out-of-state students, Owen said a spot filled by a ninth-semester senior is especially valuable.

Chris Blackmon, a ninth-semester student, said he thinks the policy change is not a good idea.

“I switched majors a couple of times before I settled on economics,” Blackmon said. “Sometimes I only took 12 hours so I could focus more time on my harder classes.”

Junior Courtney Huffines transferred from Furman University after her freshman year and said she thinks many transfer students may need extra semesters.

“It’s not because transfer students are lazy,” she said, adding that there are other factors that determine how long it takes a student to receive a degree.

“Sometimes credit doesn’t transfer or you might have a bad class. This policy doesn’t give transfer students much wiggle room.”



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.