UNLV program puts students on degree track

Monday, July 12, 2004 | 8:53 a.m.

Suebrina Falk, 17, and Kimberly Gardner, 18, don't know what they want to be when they grow up.

Falk is considering either accounting or graphic design. Gardner is thinking about being a lawyer, or maybe going into sports medicine. Like one-fourth of all University of Nevada, Las Vegas freshmen, they have not declared their majors.

Both were seeking some advice Wednesday afternoon at UNLV's newly opened University College. The new academic program opened in July and is designed to help freshman, transfer students and others struggling with their degree programs figure out the best path toward graduation.

The goal of the new college is simple: to improve UNLV's retention rates and help more of its students complete their degrees.

UNLV and other Nevada institutions rank near the bottom in the nation for both retention and graduation rates. Only 38 percent of UNLV students who began their educations in 1996 completed bachelor's degrees within six years, compared to about 55 percent nationwide, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Education. The university is also below other Western states, whose universities average a 50.2 percent graduation rate according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

If that rate remained constant, that means that of the 2,900 freshman who entered UNLV last year, a few more than 1,000 would receive degrees from the university in six years. Less than 14 percent, or 406 students, will receive a degree in four years.

UNLV retention data shows that while 72 percent of freshmen stay for a second year, that number declines each subsequent year by at least 10 percentage points. Only 62 percent make it to their junior year, which is when most should have selected their major and enrolled in their academic college.

University regents are so concerned with retention and graduation rates statewide that they may ask for $4.75 million in their biennium budget to hire more counselors and advisers to help students get their degrees.

Providing more targeted guidance and career counseling is one of the main goals of the University College, its directors said.

Newly appointed dean John Readence likened the college to a "holding tank" that provides an academic home for students while they are figuring things out. The college also provides a major, called university studies, for students who want an interdisciplinary degree combining two different areas.

The new major also provides a second chance for students who may not have the grades needed to get into one of UNLV's other academic colleges or who decide to change their major late in the game, Readence said.

"They have a home while they are trying to improve their GPA (grade point average), or they can get their degree here," Readence said. "Ultimately the university is trying to put itself in a position where they can improve retention, and afford them (students) the ability to earn their degrees."

One problem some students have is that many majors require a minimum of 2.5 grade point average, while the university requires only 2.0, or a C average. Some majors, such as education and certain sciences, require a 2.75 GPA, and nursing majors must maintain a 3.0 GPA, or B average.

That higher GPA may be tough for many of the non-traditional students UNLV attracts, Readence said, such as students who must balance full-time jobs and family obligations along with their studies. Those students should not be stigmatized by their GPA, Readence said, as it is not necessarily a measure of their intelligence.

A former non-traditional student himself with a job, wife and child, Readence said his 2.43 GPA as an undergraduate would have kept him out of most of UNLV's majors.

The university studies major follows the system policy of requiring a 2.0, Readence said, but the course work is just as rigorous as the rest of UNLV's colleges.

Students who enroll in the university studies major will be required to take the same general education classes as all other UNLV students, as well as 18 units in two different majors, and 12 to 15 core units developed specifically for university studies. A capstone course will also require students to show how their two chosen subjects will be useful to their future careers.

For instance, someone who may want to open their own day-care center may decide to take both early education and business classes, Readence said. Other may choose to diversify their skills by taking both business and marketing classes. All course schedules must be preapproved by the student's adviser and Readence, and can only include classes already in UNLV's catalog.

"This gives them freedom to explore and develop something that is tailored to their own individual needs and tastes, but it still is a credible degree with a rigor imposed on it," Readence said.

Most of the 2,000 students entering University College this fall will go on to other majors, however, and the introduction class to university studies is designed to help them figure out what they want to do, Tim Gauthier, the lone professor assigned to the college, said.

The class will help students explore the different majors offered by UNLV while allowing them to do a lot of self-exploration about what they really want, Gauthier said.

"I think there are a number of students who come in and often feel pressured to make a decision of what they will do with the rest of their lives, and may feel stuck in a corner," Gauthier said. "I think one of the offerings of this degree program is that it allows room to explore and test things out."

All undeclared freshman and transfer students entering UNLV will now be assigned to the University College until they decide on a major, Ann Hein, director of advising at the college, said. Before those students were part of the Student Development Center, which she formerly ran, but they did not have an academic home.

With the center folded into the college and with the interdisciplinary degree, Hein said, her advisers will be able to offer students more targeted guidance and career counseling. The freshmen waiting for that guidance on Wednesday said they would gladly take any help they can get.

"To me everything is just confusing right now so I want to get a better understanding overall," Gardner said. "College is a lot different from high school."