Excess credit hour policy fines students exceeding their credit limit

Jackie Skevin/Contributing Writer

Students who decide to stay in school longer may see their bills lengthen as well, according to state laws.

In fall of 2009, the Florida Legislature implemented the excess credit hour surcharge policy. Their goal is to motivate students to complete their bachelor’s degree as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“It is not just a way for the University to make more money off of students,” said April Lewis, senior academic advisor at the Academic Advising Center.

An official count from the Office of the Registrar regarding how many students have been billed and when exactly the first students saw changes to their accounts was not available.

“The statute has been on the books since 2009, so not too many students have been affected yet,” said Lewis. “It is too early to tell if this will improve graduation rates.”

Types of courses that count towards the excess surcharge are failed courses, classes dropped after the add/drop date, any course taken at another institution that is accepted and classes retaken with or without the forgiveness policy.

Courses attempted a third time garner a repeat surcharge and thus, the student is not required to also pay the excess surcharge.

Charges will vary depending on when a student entered the University. Those who entered between fall 2009 and summer 2011 and maintained continuous enrollment will be charged 50 percent of their tuition per credit if they go over 144 credit hours.

Based on a 120 credit hour degree program, students that entered between fall 2011 and summer of 2012 would pay the surcharge per credit after surpassing 138 credits. Students who entered after last fall would be affected after enrolling in more than 133 credit hours.

Reactions across campus vary.

Orlando Rodriguez, who entered the University in the fall of 2012 and is double majoring in political science and international relations, is already a junior by measure of credits.

“I don’t think the policy will motivate students to stay on track because freshmen are not thinking that far ahead when they get to college – graduation is four years away,” said Rodriguez.

According to Interim University Registrar Andrea Jay, “if a student is double majoring, their limit will be based on how many credits [are] needed for both majors.”

Credits taken towards a minor also don’t count, provided that they are taken only to satisfy the requirements of the minor.

Students who believe certain courses should be removed from the Excess Credit Counter are permitted to submit a written appeal to the Office of the Registrar. This especially applies to transfers.

“I don’t agree with the policy because it’s not that affordable,” said Rodriguez.

Internship credit courses, remedial courses taken at other colleges, classes needed for certificate programs and courses taken while participating in a Reserve Officer’s Training Corps will be  among those considered for exemption.

Regardless of the stipulations, many students feel that they are being punished for taking on additional programs or trying to further their education.

“They charge us enough as it is,” said Joanna McNamara, senior advertising major. “We pay tuition, fees, books and parking even if we don’t have a car or live on-campus. Why should we be penalized for taking more credits?”

 -news@fiusm.com

2 Comments on "Excess credit hour policy fines students exceeding their credit limit"

  1. Carlos Bracero | October 9, 2013 at 2:06 PM | Reply

    This is an extremely debatable topic. I understand from both perspectives – FIU and the student. For example, the University wants to maintain a 4 year limit on each student in order to graduate, but unfortunately other factors do come into play (financially, personally, etc.) that does not allow for many students to graduate within four years. I am an example of this. 2008 and the following years severely dented our bank accounts. What happened? We had to work more hours to pay the bills, which in turn, left us to sacrifice our studies.

  2. I graduated high school Spring 2009 and enrolled in college of Fall 2009. During that time, I did have to leave for personal reasons and changed my major but I eventually graduated in Spring 2015 with an Assocaites degree. I then transferred to a 4 year university to finish my degree.

    I was in a situation of having over 120 credits on my account, whether attempted or earned. However, I was told by my advisor that, for some reason, I wasn’t subject to the excess credit hour surcharge…literally, the credit counter said I could take 999.00 credits before being charged excess but the advisor said that after about 180-200 credits, the State of Florida would cut me off with financial aid.

    I have a friend who graduated high school in 2008 and he is in the same situation as me. Would he be like me or would he be subjected to these excess credit hours too? He is trying to finish his degree.

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