What is a Degree Worth--part #3

The trend for decelerating the amount of time needed to earn an undergraduate degree is not one that applies only to the "alternative" college programs and the diploma mills. It has been slowly seeping into the regular college programs as well.

My undergraduate degree is from Queens College CUNY. The number of credits that was required to earn either a BA or a BS was 128, 8 more than is now the case. That 128 was the norm at all colleges. That represented 8 semesters at 16 credits per semester. Yes, it was possible to reduce the time needed to complete the degree by taking more credits per semester and/or by taking courses in summer school. However, taking more than 18 credits per semester required special permission from the school and was not a sure thing unless the school was convinced that you could handle the heavy load.

But it is not only the number of credits that is different now from then. We began school the day after Labor Day. We had classes up until Christmas Eve, were off until New Years and came back the day after New Years to finish the term and then take final exams. At max our winter break was two weeks and then the spring term began. That spring term would not end until the middle of June. Our school terms were longer then than now.

But there were other differences as well. First, at a minimum a 3-credit course required three hours a week of class time; a 4-credit course required four hours a week. Today's minimum requirement for a 3-credit course is 35 hours per term of instruction, far less then when I was an undergraduate. Next, there were 1-credit and 2-credit courses that were given back then. Physical education courses carried only one credit but required 2-3 hours per week for the course. Some labs were only 1-credit courses, some 2 on the advanced level. Again, those 1 and 2 credit labs carried 2-4 hours per week of lab time.

And then there were the basic required courses. All students had to take four courses in English, two in history, four in Physical education, one in health education, two in sociology/anthropology, two in Speech, three in the study of a foreign language, two in science and two in math. You were also required to take one semester of Art Appreciation and one semester of Music Appreciation. Those were just the general requirements. Every major carried its own list of required subjects in the major area as well as requirements from other areas. [Note: some colleges had far more by way of required subjects than CUNY did. For instance, YU/Stern required two Judaic Studies courses minimum each term at Stern and more at YU. These Judaic studies courses did not reduce the number of credits required for a degree; they were in addition to those credits.]

Back then it was not only possible but also likely that many people would graduate with more than 128 credits towards their undergraduate degree. Sometimes--GASP!--students took courses that were not school requirements nor major requirements just because they were interested in the subject matter. There were also students who either double majored or who took one or more sub-majors. (Sub-majors, otherwise known as minors, were four or more courses above the required/introductory course level in one subject area.) I graduated with 163 credits for my BA degree, including a major and three sub-majors, one of which was only one course short of being a full major. I wasn't all that unusual. [Note: I actually had more credits but then, unlike now, the Judaic studies courses from Stern, where I transferred from after my first year, were not transferable as college credit.]

So, in the "good old days" we went to school for longer periods of time, our courses took longer to complete, we had more school requirements and we took more courses outside of our majors. Yes, we really got educated when we were in college. And before someone brings this up with a smirk, many of us also worked part time while in school. And also before someone else brings it up, there were boys back then who were also learning in yeshiva during the day, although nowhere near as many as a percentage of population as there are now. But here is the difference. Those yeshiva boys went to school FOUR nights a week. And they weren't getting yeshiva credits from CUNY (or from anywhere else either). Yes, there were a few people who entered college with a few AP course credits. No, "CLEPing" was not in existence. And yes, it must be mentioned as well: even CUNY had tough entrance requirements back then. You needed to present a "decent" high school average and strong SAT scores. The caliber of students in school was higher then than now.

I offer this information so my readers can know what perspective I am coming from when I talk about the worth of a college education. And to my reader who commented on a prior posting that the "good old days" were not so good, I beg to differ. In my viewpoint, those "good old days" of undergraduate education were better than what we have today.

Note: to really make your day let me point out that the CUNY schools were tuition free back before open enrollment took affect and made charging a necessity. When I graduated college the registration fee per term had gone up to $25.00 per term, and people were in shock. Our only other charge for school was paying for textbooks and our transportation. Now that really was the good old days, and it was waaaaay better then the cost of college today.