UNLV changes worry transfer students

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.

By now CCSN student Lori Johnson figured she would be on to the next stage of her college career -- becoming a junior at UNLV.

But changes in the curriculum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas could mean that not all of the 60 credits Johnson has earned at the Community College of Southern Nevada will count toward her business degree. As a result, when she transfers to UNLV, she may have to study for more than the expected two years.

"I've already spent 2 1/2 years on my two-year degree and to spend another four years on my four-year degree is definitely upsetting," Johnson, 20, said. "Everyone is going crazy over this. They're all worried."

UNLV has overhauled its general education requirements for next semester, and that has put many CCSN students in a predicament.

There are no estimates on how many transfer students will be affected but the changes would mean that not all of the credits earned by CCSN students will count toward the requirements of their major.

Since it takes 60 credits toward a major to become a junior, if some of her classes are not accepted, Johnson could transfer to UNLV as a sophomore.

Because CCSN provides only the first two years of a four-year degree, it patterns its curriculum after core classes required by UNLV. When the university began to cut courses from its list of requirements and CCSN did not follow suit, the problem emerged. Students may be taking classes that they don't need and may not be able to use.

"It's a dilemma," Bob Palinchak, CCSN's vice president for academic affairs, said. "All we're asking is that any student who goes here should be able to get full credit for the first two years that they attend."

Although UNLV only requires a student to have 12 credit hours of college before transferring, many students opt to take their first 60 units in core requirements at CCSN to save money.

UNLV normally requires students to have between 50 and 60 credit hours of undergraduate core classes before moving on to upper division courses. CCSN is allowed to offer only lower division courses.

The changes at UNLV, designed to eliminate duplication of courses, cut the core requirements to between 30 and 35 credit hours.

CCSN transfer students who have accrued 60 credits under the old requirement could end up having to convert as many as half of their credits into electives that don't count toward their major, Clarissa Erwin, CCSN's chairwoman of the college curriculum committee, said.

"They may not be able to complete the first two years of a four-year program at CCSN," Erwin said. "So if you're a sociology major and you take 60 credits at CCSN you may get to UNLV and discover that you are not quite a junior at UNLV."

The two institutions are working to fix the problem. Representatives from each schools plan to meet Friday to try to work out the kinks.

"I don't think it's going to take that much effort to bring the two curricula in line at all," said Chris Hudgins, UNLV's head of the Core Curricula General Education Task Force.

Hudgins said UNLV will concentrate on working out transferring credits from CCSN's two largest majors: business and education. Ultimately more than 100 majors will have to be examined.

In the meantime, counselors are working overtime to handle an increased demand from students who don't know how many of their college credits will count toward their chosen major.

"They are overloaded because of this," Palinchak said.

The origins of the dilemma are another matter. UNLV officials said they invited a CCSN representative to sit in on a meeting to discuss the changes before they occurred.

"What happened is even though (CCSN) had a representative on our General Education Committee, either there was a breakdown in communication or they didn't understand what the implications were," Ray Alden, UNLV's executive vice president and provost, said.

Palinchak said he doesn't know what happened.

"(Our representative) did participate but he said he didn't really see any serious implications of it," he said. "I can't explain how he missed the significance of it."

CCSN spokeswoman Chris Giunchigliani said there should be more accountability at the university system level to ensure that all institutions are on the same page.

"You can't blame any one individual for the fact that the entire system didn't know what was going on," Giunchigliani said. "If there are going to be these kinds of changes, I think there should be a mechanism in place at the university system to make sure all of the system presidents know what's going on."

University system Chancellor Jane Nichols said she is helping the two institutions work out their differences but that no one is to blame.

"I don't know that anyone has dropped the ball," Nichols said. "I think the final version of the core curriculum is being approved by the committee. So we really haven't had that until recently."

Nichols pointed out that the university system code promises all courses taken toward a degree plan at CCSN will be honored at their transferring institution.

However, CCSN officials say that is good only if a student has locked into a transfer agreement -- a signed contract that maps out a student's degree plan.

Kristi Studd, a 22-year-old science major at CCSN, could have problems because she didn't sign such an agreement.

"I am worried," Studd said. "I just spoke with a counselor and they said that as of now they know as much as we know. I just have to wait until May so they can tell me how many credits they will honor."