A century later, that still works… right?
That system — the Carnegie Unit — was designed to standardize high school curricula and college admissions, but it has also been used as the basis for the length of a degree. Though not enforced in Canada, the historic system is still reflected in many of UFV’s practices.
On June 6, The Cascade attended the Senate Public Meeting in which the 2024 Graduating Student Survey Master Report from the Canadian University Survey Consortium (CUSC) was discussed. The results showed an increase from the 2021 survey in the number of students reporting barriers to graduation — most often due to trouble accessing required courses.
President James Mandigo addressed the concern at the end of the presentation, assuring that UFV’s deans are committed to finding solutions.
Alas, with the arrival of fall registration came an uptick in waitlist complaints on the UFV subreddit. Not only that, but a UFV Properties Trust report found that students now take an average of 6.3 years to complete a bachelor’s degree — up from the historical 5.8.
If the average number of students is finishing in over six years, why are we still calling it a four-year degree? Is that timeline realistic, given institutional barriers and the demands of everyday life? And if it’s not, should that be made more transparent?
Understanding the CUSC surveys
Dr. Sylvie Murray, Dean of the College of Arts, gave some insight into how these surveys are measured. She clarified that the survey data is generalized, reflecting national trends, not specific details about UFV or individual departments, which makes the difficulties presented hard to tackle.
“That’s a global aggregated statistical information, and what I see is where the waitlists actually are each semester, and I act on that. But exactly how the work that I’m doing is going to reflect on the next survey and hopefully a greater student satisfaction, we’ll wait and see.”
These surveys are done every three years, with the next one happening in 2027 — far too late to help many students who are struggling right now.
The impact on smaller programs
One such student is Mevan Fernando, from the Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) program, who is now entering his sixth year at UFV. Though he hoped to graduate this year, he keeps facing delays because key courses haven’t been available.
Fernando switched from Psychology to PACS early in his degree. That’s when things got complicated. Around the time he declared PACS, the university was cutting courses across departments, and some of the requirements for his program were suddenly unavailable — including two classes he was supposed to take at the Justice Institute of BC (JIBC). After calling JIBC himself, he found out that they’d stopped offering those courses.
“The university didn’t even know those courses were no longer being offered [at JIBC] until, I’m assuming, I told them.”
Caught between the old PACS program and a new one still being developed, Fernando had to decide whether to stick with the original plan and risk not graduating or redeclare his major under its new version. He redeclared in Winter 2024, but many of his new required courses weren’t offered until this year, one of them being SJGS 101: Stewardship for Justice and Reconciliation, which is part of UFV’s newer Social Justice and Global Stewardship (SoJust) program.
“This program came out about two years ago, and now is the time those courses are finally being offered, which is kind of astonishing.”
Fernando is still working with his advisor to piece together a path to graduation, but without enough staff or timely course offerings, it’s been a long, frustrating wait.
“When you’re waiting for that approval or to hear back from them … it does become annoying after a while.”
Still, he expressed his gratitude for his academic advisor, who has even gone to higher-ups to try and find alternative courses for him; however, without official approval from the dean or leadership, there wasn’t much she could do.
“My academic advisor’s been super supportive since day one … but even then, [she] was also [left feeling] frustrated.”
Fernando acknowledged that he also had some setbacks of his own, having struggled with a few classes before eventually retaking them, which added to the delay.
He commented that the challenges he’s facing aren’t unique to his program either. He speculated that other small programs like Global Development Studies (GDS) are struggling too, mainly due to low enrollment. He’s seen courses get cancelled because not enough students signed up, making him wonder whether there’s enough interest to keep these programs alive.
“These smaller programs — how much longer can they be sustained? How much longer are they going to exist?”
Dr. Martha Dow, director, Community Health and Social Innovation Hub, associate professor, School of Culture, Media, and Society, and former department head, noted that these situations are closely tied to waitlists and course planning, which become complicated as universities weigh whether to add sections or redirect students to try to keep classes full.
“What’s our decision-making about replacing, or adding, when you have a waitlist? Do we add another section? Do we look at other courses and therefore not add sections so that we can fill [those] up? … it’s not an unreasonable expectation for the university to try to maximize courses.”
However, this approach overlooks a key issue — students who need the required course to move forward are still stuck.
The agency factor
Paula Funk, academic advisor for the Fine Arts, Design, and Media programs, said that since advising isn’t usually mandatory at UFV, some students navigate their programs independently with mixed results. With an emphasis on developing agency within students, Funk focuses on teaching students how to track their progress and plan ahead so they can take charge of their education.
“I’m always looking for a balance between ‘What do I need to tell the students that they just wouldn’t know otherwise?’ … versus … ‘Have I taught them to find the answers themselves?’”
While it’s not foolproof, she believes this approach helps students spot barriers sooner.
Jorja Johns, a Bachelor of Arts student finishing up her English major with a Creative Writing concentration, shared that she has been diligent about planning and has reviewed timetables throughout her academic journey. However, when the fall timetable was released, a required course she needed to graduate wasn’t listed. After revisiting past timetables, she found the course had only been offered twice in 12 semesters.
Johns went on to try to find a solution and described a disappointing experience with the advising office. When her appointment was cancelled due to illness, it wasn’t rescheduled, and the next available slot was weeks away — well past the point of being useful for her course selection. Johns shared that when she explained her situation over the phone, she felt dismissed as the staff member suggested she apply to another school instead of offering solutions, which left her feeling unsupported.
To avoid delaying her graduation, Johns took initiative and reached out to a past instructor, who directed her to Dr. Ceilidh Hart. Hart and Johns eventually arranged a substitute independent study alongside a few other students to help them finish on time.
“Hart’s been amazing in the process of getting another class and getting me and a couple of other students able to do that on time — I really appreciate her for that.”
Funk acknowledged that when the system itself creates obstacles, student agency alone isn’t enough — it takes collaboration and flexibility across the institution to truly support them.
“If our system is logistically failing students, then no amount of agency on their part is going to solve the problem.”
According to Dean Murray, UFV is working on two-year course plans for all programs, which will be posted online and shared with advisors. Because not every course runs every semester — or even every year — she wants students to be able to see what’s coming so they take required courses when they’re offered.
“Sticking to those commitments as much as we can … would be better than what we’ve done so far … We cannot offer all the options, but informing students ahead of time is key, and we haven’t done a great job at that.”
Money makes the world go round
Even when courses are offered, waitlists remain a real barrier as there often aren’t enough seats to meet student demand — a problem tied largely to UFV’s budget constraints. This is something that Rhonda Colwell, who has worked as an academic advisor for Arts for many years and recently switched to the Faculty of Science and Computer Information Systems (CIS) departments, noted in her experience. She emphasized that a lot depends on what the B.C. government decides to provide.
“There are courses being offered, but not enough seats to handle everyone — that’s a budget thing … It does come down to how much funding we get because we’re a public institution.”
Colwell recalled that when she first attended UFV in 1992 there were far fewer students, and waitlists were rare. Now, with enrollment growing every year, getting into classes has become a lot more competitive.
“Houses keep on getting built, so there are more people living here. And we try to bring in more international dollars because that’s the truth, that’s how we pay for some of the stuff that’s going on. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it.”
Domestic students pay $166.61 per credit whereas international students pay $752 — over four times more. International students also deal with the pressure of visa requirements — if a required class is full or not offered, they must still carry a full course load to keep their study permits, which adds up to a lot of dollars.
David B. Johnston, registrar and associate vice-president, enrollment management, noted that while international students often benefit from early registration and tend to plan well, there’s no special treatment if they can’t get into a required course. They’re encouraged to stay in close contact with academic advising, but in the end, it’s on them to keep their studies on track.
“Their study permit requires them to study 12 credits a semester. So, they tend to be very efficient because it costs them a lot … but there’s no special dispensation to take a course or get a course that’s not offered.”
The summer semester
Most courses open in fall and winter, and since summer is optional, Colwell noted that this makes it harder for students to take a full course load since only 100-level courses without prerequisites are usually available.
Colwell added that the summer semester is often split into early and late sessions, but it’s not realistic for students to manage multiple condensed courses in just one of those blocks. Most departments prefer to offer their summer courses in the early session, which limits options for students who might need flexibility or are trying to build a full course load.
“Can the student actually get three courses in the full session when they’re upper-level requirements? No, not really.”
Colwell also described serious scheduling issues in the Science department, especially during the Summer 2025 semester — biology and chemistry courses didn’t coordinate, clashing into each other, so first-semester international Science students couldn’t take both. They need at least nine credits to stay full-time for their study permits, but with scheduling conflicts, condensed lectures and labs packed into early summer, it was just too much.
“Our suggestion, if they’ll listen to us, is that one, [that] they coordinate [their] schedule, and two, [that] all of [their] first-year courses are full semester.”
An international student’s perspective
Fabiola Cruz Alderete, a student in Environmental Studies and Natural Sciences (ESNS) with a focus on Conservation — has first-hand insight into some of the challenges facing the Science department.
Cruz shared her frustration with waitlists — even with priority registration and the right prerequisites, she was waitlisted for a required course because “reserved seats” for international students had all filled up, despite open spots in the class.
She’s relieved she got in this semester — missing it would’ve meant taking unrelated courses to stay full-time for her study permit.
“I got in this semester, but it would have been really bad if I didn’t, because I would have been stuck … I would have ended up doing random classes.”
Even though the Geoscience department posts its course plans early, it doesn’t always help — Cruz can still get waitlisted in a class with open spots, and if she can’t take the course, her progress is halted. She also recalled an issue she had with a course she needed to stay full-time and keep her housing. After being waitlisted for the class, she was also blocked from registering for the lab.
“If I am not a full-time student, I also can’t live in Baker. So, I was panicking … If I don’t get in, I’m not a full-time student, so I cannot live in the housing, and I have nowhere to go.”
Cruz explained that she puts a lot of effort into planning her courses — meeting with advisors, professors, and even the department head to request specific classes. Despite all that preparation, she still faces recurring issues like waitlists or unavailable courses.
According to Cruz, Biology and Geography courses are essential prerequisites for many majors, including hers, and she needs to take them now to stay on track. However, the registration system doesn’t prioritize students who need these courses urgently. She feels the Registrar’s Office should take into consideration academic paths to make it easier to get into required courses.
“Registration needs to do it better, because it feels like they keep excusing [themselves by claiming] that students don’t watch the videos, [or] they don’t talk to an advisor, so it’s our fault. But when we are doing it right, they’re not. If we are putting in the work, you also have to put in the work to help us.”
Johnston said that a big change they’ve made lately has been reverting back to how waitlists worked before September of last year: they stay automated for the first eight days of classes, and when a seat opens, the student has 24 hours to register or the seat goes to someone else. Johnston claimed this helped reduce waitlists by 53 per cent in fall 2025, although no public release has been made just yet.
Separately, Johnston also stated that they’re collaborating with departments to ensure key courses are offered more regularly.
“We continue to work with academic departments … on making sure that the courses that students need are offered at least once a year, but sometimes that’s not always possible.”
The role of choice
When asked about the growing number of students taking over six years to graduate, Johnston noted that enrollment patterns suggest many are intentionally deciding to take longer. In his view, it’s less about systemic barriers and more about students making choices to balance university with other parts of their lives, thereby extending the time it takes to graduate.
Professor Dow agreed that many students never plan to finish in four years. They’re often juggling jobs, caregiving, and volunteer work while studying part-time.
Dow commented that course availability is only part of the equation, and even if these were fixed, the trend might not completely shift.
“Let’s say they could get all the courses they need for that four-year degree … I think it would shift things for some, but for many others it wouldn’t.”
What can be done?
Dow remarked that universities need to rethink how they operate in light of students’ financial realities. If institutions can’t realistically support one-year certificates or four-year degrees, they need to reconsider whether advertising those timelines still makes sense.
“We gotta figure out our relevance. And if we can’t deliver … a one-year certificate, a two-year diploma, [or] a four-year degree, do we wanna keep promising that?”
While some students may be intentionally stretching out their studies, the problem remains for those being failed by the system. Cruz observed that students should have the freedom to move through their degrees at their own pace, raising concerns about how registration issues and extended timelines can lead to higher costs for students — and more revenue for the university.
“You should be able to do it as fast or as slow as you want, but … how much more [is] the university making from students by making them stay [longer]?”
Johnston stated that while the university tries to support all types of students, it’s tough to meet every need perfectly. UFV feels they’ve struck a good balance, but are still working to improve and better serve the community.
“We wanna be there for all kinds of students, but it’s really hard to be all things to all people … we think there’s a pretty good balance. But we’re not resting on our laurels and saying there isn’t more that we can continue to do to try and serve the community.”
Dow believes that universities need to better understand why students are there and what their academic goals and constraints are. Above all, she insisted that universities should respect all educational paths — whether fast-tracked or spread out over time.
The goal, Dow argues, isn’t just speed, but meaningful access and support. Institutions should do what they can to help students graduate on their own terms, whether that means offering summer courses, supporting credit transfers, or simply recognizing different life circumstances.
“We need to think very critically and really listen and think about structures that we can change and shift … I think that is our responsibility, and it absolutely has to be doable, or we might as well shut the door.”
In the interest of transparency, please note that a source in this feature, Fabiola Cruz Alderete, is a paid contractor for The Cascade.
