Friday, September 10, 2004
Rules are designed to harm people
In this op-ed about how horrible it is to move the drop deadline up, note this paragraph:
Letters & Science students who receive financial aid must be in 13 units by the end of the fifth week. For those with the most economic need, Pell and Cal Grant recipients, anything less than 13 units at this point forces repayment of precious aid. A change in the deadline date to an earlier week would force these students to add whatever units necessary to meet the 13 unit minimum or face repayment. There would be no room to adjust their schedules beyond this and would lock them into classes that may or may not contribute towards graduation progress. Why is this unfair? Non-Pell Grant/Cal Grant students can create their schedule with little or no pressure to absolutely enroll in 13 units. In effect, the proposed policy changes would disproportionately negatively impact students with the most economic need.
Technically, the fact that some people get handed money for their education, while others don't, isn't fair. I don't really object, though, but I do want to point out that the 13 unit requirement to receive financial aid is there for a reason. Students who are being funded by the university are asked to hurry up and finish their education quickly, so they don't cost as much. This seems pretty reasonably to me.
What is not reasonable is allowing students to bypass this rule by just dropping courses after the 5th week. If you don't like the rule, argue against the rule, don't argue against the attempt to make the rule relevant.
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