Why private universities here in USA add an extra semester in the last year?

Question

That's what they (AIU) are telling my wife;"..that in order for her to get her degree (BA) she needs to take another class or credit."
Which means that instead of getting her degree next summer,she'll be looking for another 6 months (Dec.)
Who could we talk or go about this matter?
I don't think that's legal or at least fair.
Any clues?help?advice?
Thanks.

Answer 1

I hate to sound harsh, but AIU is not a "private university." It is a for-proft corporation. It also has lost its accreditation. Degrees from AIU are not taken seriously in academic circles. I strongly suggest that your wife look elsewhere for an education.

Answer 2

First of all, private universities in the U.S. don't handle course requirements any differently from public universities. Secondly, adding something that wasn't agreed upon in the first place just doesn't make sense.

Things work as follows: A student must complete a certain number of units in order to get a degree, but those units must also fulfill specific requirements which are set out at the time ths student begins the program. In most cases, it would be assumed that this would take 4 years for a bachelor's degree. However, a number of things can happen which would change this. For example, if your wife did not take the standard number of units each semester, then she may not be caught up. She may have dropped classes along the way, putting her behind schedule. It is also possible that she took the right number of units, but not the right courses to allow her to receive the degree - I have recently spoken with several students who were involved in multiple study abroad programs in which they took courses, but not the ones they needed for their degrees. Therefore, while they may have had the right number of units to graduate, they must continue to take courses until they have fulfilled all of the required courses. It is also possible for a student to take courses in the wrong order - specifically, they sometimes put off taking a critical class because it scares them, only to discover that this course is necessary for an entire sequence of courses which follow. For example, in my program, students must take a sequence of two math courses, followed by two accounting courses, followed by a finance course, followed by a business strategy course. Each course requires prior completion of its prerequisite courses. As often as I warn students about this, however, I invariably find a student or two who manages to evade math for several years, and who then tell me that they have been at the university for over three years and need to graduate - immediately! They are furious when I remind them that the six courses they have yet to take may not be taken at the same time.

A suggestion would be that your wife might take an extra course one of the upcoming semesters (either Fall, Spring, or Summer), if she only has one extra class to finish. The only problem is that if each course has a prerequisite which she has not yet taken, it may be that she will need to complete one course before beginning the next.

If nothing else can be done, if all she needs is one credit, see if it can be done as an internship or independent study - those can often be completed at either the same time as other coursework or even once she is out working.

Good luck!

Answer 3

A typical university (either public or private) expects a typical student to earn their BA after eight semesters. However, a BA is awarded upon completion of a certain amount of a certain amount of required coursework, not the completion of eight semesters. If a student hasn't completed the required coursework within eight semesters, there's absolutely no reason it would be even minimally fair or acceptable for the school to grant them a degree at that point, before they complete the required coursework. It's fairly common for students to take more that eight semesters to earn their BA. That's the fault of the student, not the school. It's the student's responsibility to ensure that he or she completes all required coursework within the time frame that he or she intends to complete his or her degree.