I am only in the second semester of my major, and I’m already worried about graduating any time in the next decade.

The UP’s news editor, Monica Ruiz, wrote a column last issue about how she can’t get into one class that will kick off her major. That got me thinking: What other problems are students having with FAU?

It didn’t take a lot of thinking to come up with a problem of my own.

I would like to graduate before I’m 40 years old, but it looks like the last class of my multimedia journalism major will hold me up. That class is multimedia practicum, and there’s at least a semester-long waiting list to get in.

A waiting list seems like no big deal. It’s something I can prepare for. Except the communications department doesn’t tell students about the list. We have to find out through friends — who guess that the list is around 50 people long.

This class is offered once a semester, and only 22 students are allowed in each time. Every semester, when there is a new class open, the adviser for the communications department allows 22 students into the class. The others are left to wait until students drop the class or accept the fact that it will take at least another semester until they can graduate.
“They actually say that if you can’t get in you should go to another school,” says Carime Hernandez, a senior multimedia journalism major. “But I’d probably have to petition to get in.”

What’s funny is that FAU has said that making sure students graduate on a four-year plan is a priority.

Just last semester, the Board of Trustees — essentially a group of people who run FAU — discussed how they want to push us out in four years. Doing so would allow them to bring in new students with new money.

Here’s what the draft minutes from one of their recent meetings said:
“Trustee Plymale noted that there is a cost associated with six year attendance in college and that the administration needs to take it into concern when looking at the budget. … Trustee Bryant asked if a student on the community college level finishes within two years and continues on to FAU and finishes their degree in two years it seems that a student would finish in four years. President Brogan stated that the reality is a student can do a true ‘two plus two’ and complete a baccalaureate degree in four years, but most students finish between five and six years.”

Apparently the Board of Trustees doesn’t realize that the communications department makes it impossible for students to graduate in four years. They are making sure to prevent one thing FAU cares so much about.

We aren’t the only ones with complaints!

The UP would like to make this a regular feature, so if there’s something about classes that pisses you off, send me an e-mail at [email protected].

To read Monica’s column about starting her major, click here.