SGA passes UHin4all, aims to enroll all undergrads in program
The Student Government Association has passed UB-52004 UHin4all, which calls for the expansion of the UH in 4 graduation program to automatically enroll all students.
The UH in 4 graduation plan hopes to increase four-year graduation rates by guaranteeing a fixed tuition for the duration of the students’ enrollment in the program.
To remain in the program, students must successfully complete 30 credit hours per year, or 15 credit hours per semester.
The University also dictates a degree plan, outlining which courses students should take each semester in order to graduate on time.
Currently, students can opt-in to UHin4, but are not required.
Under the new legislation passed by SGA, all incoming students would be enrolled in UHin4 from the time of their enrollment in the University.
“The main purpose of this bill is to see a slight expansion to UH in 4 by facilitating the enrollment in UH in 4 process,” SGA Senator Clint Kirchhoff said at the meeting. “There are still far too many students unaware of UH in 4, so they end up not signing up for it, meaning that we lost the opportunity to incentivize their four-year graduation.”
The bill was moved to a vote and passed almost unanimously, but SGA President Shaun Theriot-Smith said he wouldn’t sign the bill until he had a chance to speak with the Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Student Success, Teri Longacre.
Theriot-Smith said that he wanted the senators to seek input from Longacre about what complications might arise from implementation of a policy like this.
“I think that there’s going to be quite a few additional complications automatic enrollment might cause that perhaps, with just a little bit of due diligence and research would have surfaced, just by asking (Teri) Longacre,” Theriot-Smith said.
Senator Edwin Mascorro also voiced his worries.
“I have real, huge concerns for this bill, to be honest with you,” Mascorro said at the meeting. “One, UH in 4, in my experiences, penalizes students for not being able to graduate in four years. Two, there’s a certain amount of hours that you have to complete in a certain year (and) some students can’t handle 15 hours.”
Senator David Gratvol cleared up some of Mascorro’s concerns.
“The student doesn’t really lose anything by automatically being enrolled in UH in 4,” Gratvol said. “(If students) fall out in the first year, they’re going to be in the exact same position as if they never enrolled, but if you stay on UH in 4 for one year, two years, three years, even if you don’t finish it, you still get that financial incentive.”
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