By Daily Titan Editorial Board
Published: May 12, 2010

Starting in the fall 2010 semester, Cal State Fullerton will be implementing a new fee of $250 per unit for any student that is repeating a course for the third time or more.

Since the average class is three units, students will end up paying about $750 extra, which is a lot considering that tuition at CSUF has increased more than 50 percent over the last five years. Many people may feel that if the student doesn’t want to pay an extra $750 for a class then they should get it right the first time.

However, not all students who repeat classes more than two times are lazy or not trying hard enough. In fact, most of the courses that are repeated three or more times are “math-embedded,” which means they are probably more difficult than the average class.

Engineering and chemistry courses are examples of classes that would be “math embedded,” and it is common for students to have to take these courses several times because the difficulty level is much higher than Math 110. These students should not be punished because they are taking challenging courses that they may not get a complete grasp of the first two times around.

There are also circumstances that occur that are beyond the students control, such as family and life emergencies that could cause a student to drop a class or fail it.

The mass email sent out by the Admissions and Records department to inform students of the new repeated course fee is slightly ambiguous when it comes to how soon the fee must be paid. It seems that the university is practically threatening students with dropping their entire course load that they have enrolled in if they don’t pay the extra fee “immediately.”

Considering how difficult it is for students to get the classes they need, it seems unfair to take away all their classes if they are not able to pay that much money right away. Realistically, the university needs to be more flexible with how fees can be paid, and it should not affect other classes that the student has enrolled in for the first or second time.

CSUF students have already put up with drastic tuition increases, furlough days and impacted classes since the California budget crisis began affecting our campus. Some students may not even make that amount in a month, and this extra fee will inevitably end up on a credit card or be added to their pile of student loans. Instead of trying to solve CSUF’s budget problems by tacking on more fees to student tuition, the university should be figuring out where it can cut back on unnecessary expenses.

By Brian Zbysenski
Daily Titan Staff Writer

In fall 2010, there will be a new fee charged to students who repeat a class for a third time or more. So, for students who failed a class twice, every time they enroll in that course again, they will have to come up with a $250 fee per unit. While I and most students are not happy with all the increases in tuition and fees that have been applied recently, this one makes a lot of sense.

The charge will be $250 per unit, so if it’s a common 3-unit class, that’s $750 for one class for one student. According to yesterday’s article in the Daily Titan about this very subject, 897 students repeated a course three times or more. That’s at least $672,750 alone. Especially in today’s economy, any bit of funds would be greatly appreciated for our school system.

To sway away from the financial aspect of it all, it will also stress how important these classes are to complete. Students will take their instruction much more seriously to avoid having to pay these fees.

Ultimately, I believe students will not only get things done more efficiently, but they will retain the information better as they will really study the material since they will not be as relaxed as they used to be without the $250-per-unit charge hanging over their heads.

It will encourage currently enrolled students to graduate on time and will also create more flow of more new students coming into the system. As more students graduate, there will be more room for freshman to come in and start the cycle all over again.

However, the fee will not be charged for “repeatable courses,” noted in the Cal State Fullerton University Catalog as repeatable credit unless the repeat limit has been met.

For those who are scared of this new rule, remember, it is for taking a class for the third time or more. So for those who are on track, one failure will not break your bank. The system understands that things happen.

It’s time for students to get away from the social networking websites they spend so much time on in classes and at home, and it’s time for students to stop ditching every other week, because anything beyond one repeated class will now come with its financial downfalls.