Anyone who has logged into iRattler in the last couple of weeks has seen the notification that there will be an excess credit hour surcharge for students who entered Florida A&M for the first time during the 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 school years.
Students who enrolled in fall 2009 will be charged a 50 percent surcharge on all credit hours taken beyond 120 percent of the hours required.
According to the notice, if students are in a degree program that requires 120 credit hours, their tuition will be increased by half the tuition rate for each credit hour attempted after 144 credit hours.
Students who began in fall 2011 will be given a 100 percent surcharge on all credit hours taken beyond 115 percent of the hours required by the university.
It also said tuition per credit hour will double once more than 138 credit hours are attempted for students in a program that requires 120 credit hours.
This surcharge is applied to classes that were failed, withdrawn, or repeated.
Although this surcharge seems unfair, maybe there are other motives besides bringing in more money. I believe this is a way to give students a push to pass all their classes the first time.
As a Rattler, every so often you hear someone mentioning the need for FAMU to raise its graduation rate. This surcharge is a tactic to get people in and out of school in a much more timely fashion.
FAMU has been the target of negative media in the past months; it would be nice to have another achievement, such as a higher graduation rate.
A college education is extremely overpriced and it can become unaffordable.
I am not in favor of making a college education any more expensive than it already is, but maybe Florida legislators believe the only way to convince people to do what they should have been doing in the first place is to make the consequences harsher.
According to www.famu.edu/registrar, students are strongly advised to meet with their academic adviser to avoid attempting credit hours in excess of the credit hours required for their particular baccalaureate degree program.
Word of advice: make sure you get advised and register for classes on time. Take 15 credit hours, and most importantly, pass your classes.
This is a way for students to do what is best for themselves, the university and financial aid.