LBCC Graphic Arts students have had a lot to digest since April 15, when they were told the degree program they were enrolled in technically didn't exist.
In 2013, a budget cut of $3 million resulted in the program, and several others, being suspended or scaled back. Stemming from an error in the school's catalog, in which the AAS degree in Graphic Arts still appeared, students have continued enrolling in the program.
President Greg Hamann ultimately made the decision to suspend the program, and when doing so, he believed that the process to discontinue all promotional materials had taken place.
"Somehow it ended up back in the catalog," said Hamann. "Obviously it's an error on the part of the college and I don't know how it was made yet."
Since last week when Dave Becker, dean of Business, Applied Technology and Industry, broke news to the students of the college's discovery, administrators have been scrambling to figure out how to take care of the 22 students currently enrolled in the program.
"I think we did the right thing in telling students as soon as we knew. I think the weakness to that was that we told them before we had solutions," said Dale Stowell, executive director of Institutional Advancement.
At first it seemed that the students would get either a Visual Communication degree or an Associate of General Studies. The determining factor was if the students were enrolled before or after the 2013 suspension.
Students reacted in anger and insult.
Some questioned whether they wanted the new degree at all. Others worried if their credits would be honored if they transferred to another college offering the degree they wanted. Many were concerned about the money they had spent, or had been loaned, to pay for classes.
The school now has solutions.
"Any student who had the graphic design major and received federal financial aid, they will have no obligation to pay that," said Stowell. "Certainly anything that will not serve their future we will refund."
For students who decide that they would rather not continue their education, Stowell confirmed that all courses will be refunded. For those that want to transfer to a school offering their major, they will be refunded for the non-transferable credits. Cost of fees, tuition, and materials will all be included.
"We've got advisers that will be reaching out to students this week and individually evaluating their options," said Stowell.
There are two reasons the classes were still being offered on campus. The first is that the one-year certificate program for Digital Imaging is still accredited. The second is due to a mandatory "teach-out" period of three years after the Graphic Arts program suspension, ensuring enrolled students were given opportunity to complete the degree.
Where the ball was dropped no one knows for sure.
"We had some turnover and transition in structure and leadership when this catalog was getting put together," said Stowell.
At the time of the suspension the dean of instruction and the dean of the Graphic Arts program both left. Fingers are pointed at their departure leaving the program in limbo and resulting in the process to re-accredit it not taking place.
"I know it's a cliche but it really was a perfect storm of changes, which again, is not an excuse for what happened," said Stowell.
In July of 2014 Sally Moore took over the position of dean of instruction and is essentially the dean of deans. In her new role she has been looking over processes at LBCC. She feels they have already identified what the school can do in the future to avoid such a situation again.
The 2015-16 catalog will now be checked by several departments within LBCC and the Board of Education, according to Moore. Until now, the process that allowed the IT department to make boxes available for students to "check" when declaring a major was verified only by what was in the catalog. Moore assures this process has now been adjusted.
At this point it seems the Visual Communication program will not be offered in next year's catalog either. Students currently enrolled will be allowed to complete the degree, if they can complete needed credits by spring of 2016.
Planning is underway as to what the future of a similar degree program at LBCC may be.
The school is reassuring students that despite the misrepresentation in the catalog regarding the degree itself, all courses they have taken are accredited. It was simply the package of classes bundled into a degree that was not accredited.
Moore also noted that even though students are upset that their degree will not physically say "graphic arts," employers should not hold it against them. In fact, the current industry term has shifted from graphic arts to visual communication.
"What the employer looks at is your portfolio and your transcript, so the evidence is abundant beyond that," said Moore.
No comments:
Post a Comment