OpinionsEditorials

U-100 wastes resources and time

Our university is currently in the process of resurrecting a class, which for years had been described as a waste of time and money by many students and faculty alike. This class, University 100, “The First Year Experience Program,” serves as an introductory course for freshmen and is planned to be reinstated beginning fall 2004 after it was canceled two years ago.

Offering various tours, time management strategies and suggestions for how to remain safe and alcohol free at parties, this course, we believe, served as nothing more than an orientation that extended for an eleven-week period instead of one or two days prior to the start of fall semester.

For 13 years, entering freshmen were required to participate in University 100, a one-unit course, designed to assist new students in coping with the transition from high school to college.

Many students who took the class found it did not live up to the hype. Likewise, ULV faculty who led the class began losing interest.

As of 2000, less than 20 percent of faculty was involved in the course.

Believing that the class was not fulfilling its goal, it was suspended so it could be reconstructed and restructured.

Now that the ULV dropout rate seems to be on the rise, U-100 is being reinstated with a new name and a new structure in attempts to assist students early on and prevent drop-outs.

On this campus, only 50 percent of students continue to attend after their second year and many graduate after six years. It is difficult, because of so many required courses, to graduate in four years.

Our university already requires students to complete 24 General Education courses to graduate.

So when a credit/no-credit class that does not fulfill a GE requirement, such as U-100, becomes mandatory, the time necessary to complete a bachelor degree increases, making it even more difficult for students to graduate on time.

Never mind the fact that more time in class means more money that the University must fork out to cover all the costs involved in offering that extra class.

It seems odd that at a time when we are facing serious budget cuts we would be able to afford the extra money to pay the additional costs, mainly professors’ salaries, to cover these courses.

It is estimated that the program will cost a couple thousand dollars to operate and pay for resources to keep the program running.

If the dropout rate is so alarming, and it seems that the only way to reduce it is through incorporating a class that serves as a waste of time and finances, so be it.

But we suggest that instead of extending an orientation over a few weeks and calling it a class, why don’t we just stick to the old orientation? Spice it up a little. Throw in a few more hours of guest speakers and workshops. And maybe provide more counseling services to students throughout the year – but make these optional.

Do not give ULV students one more time-consuming, and somewhat worthless class.

The First Year Experience may have its benefits, and it may assist some students in learning how to say “no” to a suspicious drink at a party.

But these are strategies that we are capable of learning through the college experience as a whole, without a special class. Dollars should not be spent, and time should not be wasted on a class that, in the long run, will leave students feeling that their time has been wasted.

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Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

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