Initiative aims to ?x registration problems

Undergraduate students sometimes take graduate courses, though often they aren’t supposed to.

And their grade point averages don’t reflect the type of grades those classes give.

But a new Educational Policy Committee initiative aims to ensure that students only take classes if the teacher or department says they’re qualified to.

The policy would also ensure that undergraduates approved for graduate classes get quality point credits for their work.

In the past, graduate grades, which are H, P or L and not A through F, were not compatible with an undergraduate GPA, so while undergraduates received course credit for graduate classes, their scores didn’t figure into their GPAs.

But at the end of the fall semester, the Office of the University Registrar filled out more than 600 grade change forms for undergraduate students to translate their graduate-class scores into usable grades.

At its April 13 meeting, the committee discussed how to prevent the grade mismatch problem in the future.

Bobbi Owen, senior associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the change is long overdue.

“There are no quality points associated with them,” she said. “It’s such a different system.”

Owen said the old system could harm undergraduates who performed well in graduate classes.

“Those students who you think would be on the Dean’s List did not have the benefit of quality points,” she said.

She said the new system will ensure students receive GPA credit, but also that they only take courses they have been approved for.

Owen said that the problem arose after the numbering system for courses changed in 2006, allowing undergraduates to register for graduate classes.

The new system allows undergraduates to enroll in 700-level courses, which they don’t technically qualify for.

“There’s a difference between how the numbering system is working and how it’s supposed to work,” she said.

Andrew Perrin, a member of the committee, said the easiest way to handle the issue is to allow undergraduates to only enroll in these courses with the permission of the department or professor.

“It’s basically a procedural matter,” he said.

But Perrin, associate chairman of the sociology department, said many undergraduates are not interested in taking graduate level classes, so the problem is minor.

Serena Witzke, president of the Graduate and Professional School Federation, said undergraduates should satisfy criteria to take graduate courses so they don’t drag graduate students down.

Perrin said the grade mismatch came to light after the University switched to the Connect Carolina system for the 2010-2011 academic year. Unlike Student Central, the said the new system allows professors to input grades. Those professors realized scores weren’t translating for undergraduate GPAs.

“The problem was relevant and it existed (with Student Central), it just wasn’t being recognized,” Perrin said.

The change will have to be approved by the Faculty Council, which met for the last time this academic year on April 15.

Owen said she thinks the council will approve it. “It’s a reasonable request.”

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