CSUN SET TO CHANGE COURSE GENERAL-EDUCATION OVERHAUL PLANNED.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - In a bid to boost one of the worst on-time graduation rates in the 23-college California State University system, CSUN is cutting general-education requirements for students by nearly 20 percent.

The total number of credits needed to graduate will not change, nor will the 12 units of basic studies. However, the university's 31,000 students will have to take only 48 credits - down from the systemwide high of 58 - from a syllabus of course options designed to provide a well-rounded education.

``What it does is create flexibility for students,'' said Jolene Koester, president of California State University, Northridge. ``It changes a very large, cumbersome, complicated program into something that is more understandable, while preserving the integrity and quality of the GE program.''

The move comes as campuses across the CSU system seek to raise dismally low graduation rates amid increasing pressure for accountability from a system that receives $2.6 billion in taxpayer funds.

In 2003, CSUN had a four-year graduation rate of just 3.8 percent, and a six-year graduation rate of only 32 percent.

While some CSUN faculty raised concerns that students would use the new standards to take easier classes or focus too narrowly on courses in their majors, David S. Spence, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs for the CSU system, called the university a ``trendsetter.''

Spence said the Chancellor's Office will recommend to CSU trustees that all campuses review graduation requirements, including general-education credits.

``California State University has, as a system, the highest number of units for GE of any system I know about in the country,'' Spence said. ``We need to do everything we can to help our students graduate. They take so many courses they don't really need.''

CSU officials have mandated a minimum of 48 general-education credits for students, but individual campuses can add to that. The result is that requirements vary widely among campuses - from 48 to 58.

In addition to CSUN, California State University, Dominguez Hills, had one of the highest requirements - and the system's lowest four-year graduation rate, 3.3 percent in 2003. Last year, the school trimmed GE requirements from 59 to 54, and now is in the process of overhauling course content to reflect the interests of its student body better.

While numerous factors have been cited for CSUN's low graduation rate - including that the average student is 27, many are part-time, and most also work and have family obligations - students also have long complained about its general-education requirements.

Factoring in prerequisites and course credits that don't always add up neatly to the required amounts, CSUN students sometimes ended up taking as many as 60 units of general-education courses - the equivalent of two years of course work at full, 15-unit semesters.

CSUN officials said they remain committed to the value of a broad liberal arts education, but they also hope the new flexibility translates into higher on-time graduation rates by giving students a wider choice of courses that fit their schedules as well as career objectives.

``What we are trying to do for the CSUN graduate is to give them a basic core of breadth courses, so when they come out at the end of their university career, they will have a broad knowledge base,'' said Jennifer Matos, associate professor of biology and chairwoman of a 14-member task force that has worked on the issue for more than a year.

The revised requirements, which will be phased in through 2007, will include 12 units of basics including writing, math and oral communication; eight units of natural sciences; six units of social sciences; six units in the arts and humanities; six units in comparative cultural studies; six units in U.S. government; and three units in lifelong learning.

Kevin Carey, director of policy research for The Education Trust, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit research and advocacy organization, was uncertain whether reducing general-education requirements would help boost graduation rates.

But he said several other systemwide measures - including improvements in advising and providing students with ``road maps'' that spell out the courses required in each major to graduate in four, five and six years - have been shown to increase on-time graduation rates.

CSUN students - also long concerned about costs, including tuition increases, as much as $250 for a single textbook, and increasing debt as federal aid shifts increasingly toward loans rather than grants and scholarships - hailed the changes.

``You do your GE requirements in high school,'' complained Jeremy Tovmassian, 19, of Valencia, who is majoring in business law and wants to become a lawyer. ``We come to college to learn about our field.''

Many majors have courses that must be taken in sequence and aren't offered every semester, students say, forcing them to plug in whatever GE course will fill a requirement around the remaining spaces in their schedule.

``I had to take a class on Salvadoran politics for my cross-cultural studies requirement because it's the only one that would fit my schedule,'' Tovmassian grumbled. ``I wanted to get on with it.''

Several majors at CSUN, including mechanical engineering, also now require so many courses that students know from the start that it will take five years to graduate, said Travis Premo, 20, of Reseda, who said 58 GE units were too much.

``I'm all for being well-rounded and stuff, but you have to have some kind of limit,'' Premo said. ``We just want to get in here, get our degree and start our careers.''

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

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SOURCE: California State University, Northridge

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