When students leave USC at the end of their academic programs, they have high hopes for their diplomas. They hope that the slim piece of paper will be an indication of years of commitment to this school and to a subject of study that will hopefully lead to a lifelong passion. However, in many programs, that commitment is being ignored by a student’s official transcript, as many majors are forced to take courses with credit hours that do not adequately reflect the investments of time and work said courses require.
From music to journalism, students must work hours beyond what appears on their registration in order to fulfill requirements that are not necessarily integral parts of their respective programs. While some — like senior semester in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications — offer students the professional experience that will be the lifeblood of any career, the work often pushes them beyond the scheduling limits of the normal semester, despite the credit hour total showing up on their VIP account. Ultimately, students are forced into a situation where what they are contributing does not equal, on an official basis, what they’re receiving.
In the end, every dollar and every hour spent at this university has to contribute to the diplomas that each student is seeking. Lengthening a program’s duration by filling it with zero-credit classes or by packing each semester with unrecognized hours of works may contribute to the university’s overall profit, but in the end, the focus must be on the student and his or her progression toward a diploma. We all deserve to be a part of programs that honor our interests, cultivate our professional developments and fairly recognize the commitments we all bring to this university.