By Taylor Breckles (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 12, 2014
Gone are the days when a student could (and would) wait until their last semester to declare a major, minor, or extended minor.
An email regarding declaration was recently sent out by UFV’s arts advice centre. It states that once students fulfill 60 credits, they must declare their major, minor, or extended minor.
“Students who have completed 60 credits, but haven’t formally declared with an arts advisor, will be blocked from registering due to UFV’s declaration policy,” it reads.
Director for the Arts Advice Centre Elaine Newman elaborates on the change, saying it is meant to help students find a direction in their studies.
“This [change] is for the bachelor of arts, but I believe [the sciences are] currently putting through a policy change as well,” she says. “The whole purpose of declaring is for students to be thinking about their interests, their first 30 credits allowing them exploration and taking courses in a variety of disciplines … and finding a direction.”
Students can run into the issue of too many lower-level credits when they could be building upper-level credits that fulfill degree requirements, and this is one of the problems the declaration requirement change aspires to resolve.
“It’s more of a preventative measure as well as to make sure that students know that they’re on track and are following the most current calendar copy,” Newman says. “Once students declare, that’s the calendar they follow, so if there are any changes [they won’t] affect them.”
Should students want to change their majors, minors, or extended minors, they can do so at any time of the semester — declaring does not set decisions in stone. But declaring does benefit students battling waitlists. Newman explains that courses have some reserved seats for students declared in their programs.
Usually a certain number of seats are reserved for students who have declared majors or minors in the discipline of the class, which creates an obstacle for undeclared students. Declaring earlier, Newman explains, can help overcome that problem.
Along with helping students pave the path to graduation, this declaration requirement change helps the university’s course planning.
“It does help the departments plan,” Newman says. “They can more thoroughly track course offerings … we’re trying to plan strategically.”
Even though the initial email warned students would not be able to register for courses if they did not declare after 60 credits, Newman elaborates that that is not necessarily the case.
“It’s not as if we block students and [they] can’t move until [they] make a decision … we allow for some flexibility within it,” she says, adding that students can speak with career counsellors in student services for help in finding a direction.
Newman also explains that she doesn’t want to force students to declare for the mere purpose of paperwork. That said, students are encouraged to declare even before they reach the 60 credit mark.
“We want students to be able to explore without having to make any choices [and] I think we would see more students come in if we let them declare right away [but] we give them that window of time to start thinking about it,” she says.
Newman encourages students to book an appointment with the arts advice centre before registration becomes hectic.
“We’re flexible, we’re not mean, we’re just trying to be helpful more than anything else.”
