Kaitlyn Coogan
Equinox Staff
A “fact of life for most students,” according to Registrar Tom Richard, is that they will get to their senior year and realize the catalog of courses they have been following requires a course for them to graduate that unfortunately does not exist anymore.
First things first, a student needs to understand what really is a catalog year.
Each year there is a catalog of courses that are available and required for each major and minor that a student could be taking. This catalog follows students throughout their years at the school, showing them what they need to take to graduate. The students traditionally follow the catalog year that corresponds with the year they first enrolled. They cannot take a catalog from previous years but can switch to a newer catalog at any point if they find that catalog more appropriate for their intent. If a student changes majors they are required to follow the catalog year from the year they were admitted to the college, not the year they change majors. If by chance they cannot fulfill the requirements of that catalog, they can move to a more recent catalog that will work for them.
Now here is where the problem occurs.
“Naturally you are confused. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to meet my requirement?” Richard said.
Those students are left wondering how they will graduate when the class they need is no longer offered. The reason why classes are nonexistent is because departments change their curriculum every couple of years and some classes are deleted because they find them unnecessary now and these other courses more appropriate. This makes a new catalog for the next year and those last year students are still following the former curriculum. When they get to their senior year, their required classes do not exist and they are left confused and frustrated.
“The issue I had was with the program planner. The program planners are not up to date so when I went to apply for student teaching it said I was not eligible, that I was deemed ‘in progress’ because I had not taken certain classes for my sociology major. One of these classes is no longer available at Keene and the other one I was taking a new 400-level, so it wasn’t listed on the planner. This did not cause any real problems for me because they just checked with the registrar’s office and then I was all set,” Kellie Gouin said.
Thankfully, there is a solution to this problem which involves a conversation and a little computer work. For seniors already in the situation of needing a nonexistent class, they should talk to their advisor and department of the class they need because they will have to find a substitute class that will work for the required course. This is what is called a transition plan, where the department takes out a class but replaces it with another one of equal credits and priorities. There might even be a substitution course where they take another existing course and use it to substitute for the required course. It is really up to the advisors and the departments to communicate with their students about the changes that will affect them.
There is also a way to avoid this situation altogether. There is an application on MyKSC where a student can follow the requirements for their majors and/or minors. After logging into MyKSC, go to Student Services and on the left hand side, under Academic Profile, click Program Evaluation. From there, students can choose their major and see what courses are required. If there is a class that is needed but is unavailable to sign up for, then students can get a handle on it before their senior year. Students can also switch to the new curriculum each year if they believe the new curriculum will work for them.
Last minute advice from Richard: “The only person taking care of you, is you.”
Kaitlin Coogan can be contacted at kcoogan@ksc.mailcruiser.com.