Students concerned with credit hour requirements and graduation dates may be surprised to discover that university officials have proposed lowering the current graduation requirement of credit hours from 128 to 120. 

Because 128 hours can lead to a higher cost for an education, the University Curriculum Committee was prompted to approve a proposal that allows departments to lower the credit hour requirement to 120 hours that will go into affect for the 2014-2015 school year, said John Thornell, Vice President for Academic Affairs.

 “We at the Curriculum Committee received (the proposal) to lower the requirement from the Council of Academic Deans,” said Matthew Fitzsimmons, Professor of Philosophy, History, and Political Science.

“They made the proposal to initiate the move from 128 to 120 credit hours at the Oct. 1 meeting. At the Oct. 8 meeting, several departments made the change to lower the requirements for the bachelor’s degree.”

The drop in credit hours is to help offset costs for students, Thornell said.

“A 128-hour program almost inevitably requires students to stay an extra semester or even year,” Thornell said. “They incur significant cost to do so, not only in terms of attendance costs but also delay in entering the job market. As tuition has risen, we as a university must be sensitive to containing costs, and a reduction in hours required for a degree is an important step.”

It’s important to note that the change to 120 hours isn’t universal and that the change in credit hours will also not effect current students unless they change their catalog year, Fitzsimmons said.

“None of the departments necessarily have to adopt the proposal,” Fitzsimmons said. “This is just the minimum number of requirements for the University. But, it’s up to the individual departments to set their minimum number.”

The proposal was agreed on mainly to bring more students to UNA, Fitzsimmons said.

“One the reasons the requirement was made was to compete with surrounding universities,” Fitzsimmons said. “For Example, Auburn, South Alabama, the University of Alabama, and UAB all have 120 as their minimum requirement. There’s only a handful of institutions that have a requirement over 120.”

Although there will be less hours needed to graduate, students will still have the same requirements for the majors, Fitzsimmons said.

“The change in hours is meant to change the number of general education classes students take,” Fitzsimmons said. “Since the classes required for each major won’t change, you will be reducing the number of general education classes needed for graduation.”

Christopher Clayton believes lowering the credit hours will help UNA be more affordable, he said.

“I think it’s a pretty good idea, especially if it will help UNA keep up with other universities in terms of affordability,” Clayton, a sophomore said. “I know the cost of living is continuously going up, and tuition is not going down anytime soon.” 

Lowering the credit hour requirement earlier would have also helped me be less stressed, said Lindsay Hanlin, a senior.

“I’m taking 21 credit hours right now in order to graduate on time, and it’s really stressful,” Hanlin said. “I feel like I would get more out of my education if I could take it slow and not have to worry about financing extra hours.”

The lower requirement would serve as a motivation factor for students, though it is not necessarily the right decision, said Cameron Needham, a freshman.

“I think that being one of the few colleges that mandates 128 hours makes UNA a step above the rest,” Needham said. “With 128 hours versus 120, it says that UNA upholds a different standard. Students can say that they went to a school where the long haul was a little bit longer, and they still succeeded.”

Overall, the university has to do what is best for the students, Thornell said.

“Our responsibility as a university community is to do all that we can to serve the best interests of our students, and the 120 hour minimum is a response to that high purpose,” Thornell said. “I applaud the College of Arts and Sciences Chairs and Dean for taking this step and encourage all departments to use this opportunity to revisit graduation requirements for their programs.”

The minutes to the Curriculum Committee’s meetings can be accessed here.