Four-year graduation rates are an important aspect of determining a university’s ranking, and some schools such as the University of Virginia strictly limit students to a maximum of eight full-time semesters in order to preserve their position among top schools.
However, an extra semester should not prevent students from receiving a double major as it currently does at UNC.
Students are only allowed to stay a ninth semester if they haven’t fulfilled the requirements for a single major.
Those that need extra time and end up fulfilling the requirements for two majors must now choose which major appears on their transcript.
At UNC, students who go beyond 140 credit hours are disciplined with a 150 percent tuition rate. Although burdensome, the tuition hike is not unreasonable as it encourages students to graduate quickly and it deters older students from taking up seats in classes, which allows new students to funnel in.
It is an excessive consequence to students who exceed the limit on semesters that the University will only print one of their majors on their transcript.
Before 2007, students were only allowed to focus on two areas of study, but the faculty decided to expand this to three areas of study as long as they could stay on track to graduate in eight semesters.
But if students fulfill the requirements for both majors, it only makes sense to give them credit for the degree that they earned.
