Transfer Students Given Forum for Frustration

All Photos by: Ivan Castillo

Being a transfer student can be a pain thanks to having to acclimate to a new environment as well as adjusting to a different curriculum.  It is therefore believed that the Unversity of Houston tries its best to smoothen the transition.  As efficient as the various departments consider themselves to be in this situation, plenty of individual student’s cases fall through the tracks. This added to still having to attend class and perform adequately it should be no surprise that the 12 students present expressed frustration at Monday’s Office of Institutional Research’s Transfer Student Focus Group (TSFG).

The focus group held on October 19th in the Student Services Building was one of three focus groups held this week as part of the Achieving the Dream Initiative. According to Senior Statistician Dr. Maureen G. Croft, the person who hosted the TSFG, its purpose was to mark how transfer students rated the level of different departments’ services since 2007 when the last focus groups were held.

This 18-month gap served to show whether or not service had improved over a significant period. As Dr. Croft put it she hopes the information gathered will “help students transfer successfully.”

As much improvement may have been made since ’07, students still had several complaints regarding numerous departments, especially the transfer credit department and the financial aid department. Due to it being a focus group however, protocol dictates anonymity of the students therefore they will be referred to by their initials.

One complaint concerned the orientation. While student J.A. considered it the usual affair, he had hoped for a greater tour of the campus. Instead the tour was relegated to a mere walk from the UC to the M.D Anderson Library. Considering the relatively large size of the campus this seemed like a fair complaint. After all, plenty of course schedules necessitate long treks across campus.

Another complaint made by D.H. whose advisor refused to see him. No reason, to the knowledge of the student, was given for why this occurred or how he could correct the situation. Luckily though, he was eventually able to resolve it and meet with another advisor. However, such cases still serve as a hindrance to transfer students considering that a block is on some transfer students’ (international students mostly) PeopleSoft enrollment until he or she meets with an advisor. This prolonging caused by the advisory department could cause students to be incapable of making a decent schedule. This especially impedes those with jobs who have to think about working hours when selecting courses.

D.H. also told the group that at one point he was given a single three-hour notice saying he would be dropped from his courses if he failed to make a payment. What makes this occurrence an especially disconcerting one was that the student had just received a refund from the university.

Regarding scholarships and financial aid student, R.K. stated that despite earning a 4.0 G.P.A in her first semester, she was not approached by the Honors College. Although this is not a problem that may be exclusive to transfer students, it was understandable how a student would be frustrated after doing exceedingly well and not gaining any form of recognition. There was another student who said that through the Transfer Excellency program he had earned a scholarship from UH. However, due to a previously unmentioned requirement, he did not and has yet to receive the scholarship.

Probably the most wide-felt complaint however, was the issue concerning transfer credits. Students were very firm in this instance about their dissatisfaction with the school about their transfer credits evaluation. While in-state transfers went through with little to no difficulty, out-state and international students considered the evaluation time unreasonably long with some taking as long four months. This has the disadvantage of possibly enrolling twice for a course that you may receive credit on for the first instance (out of fear that the credit will not be accepted). Not only does this waste money, but it also waste students’ time and increases the number of semesters required.

Even when transcripts are evaluated in a timely matter though, students said that many credits were not received. Student D.H. stated that of 72 course hours he attempted to transfer, he received credit for less than ten initially, and only got another four after petitioning. Others such as student M.A. experienced similar issues saying that he cannot comprehend why though since the “core curriculum is understandably the same, but yet they are not accepted.”

Of the 12 participating in the focus group, the students unanimously agreed with student A.T. that they understood that as a business the school wants be able to make the most amount of money it could. However, Dr. Croft reminded the students that the school doesn’t want to keep students longer than it needs to because of how negatively it affects graduation rates.

When asked by Dr. Croft how the university could make improvements, not many suggestions were presented by the students. Within the issue of transcript evaluation student. A.V. said that the university should give transfer students the option of turning in papers similar to resumes detailing their previous course work. He feels this will assists the transcript evaluation department with their work.

Dr. Croft will use the information gathered at all three sessions to see how the different departments have improved since the Achieving the Dream initiative was started in ’07, as well to advise the departments on how to improve. Dr. Croft also said that for those that cannot attend the focus groups they do hold them periodically online. Hopefully through this and other events, the university can continuously improve on its goal of assisting students to ‘Start Right-Finish Strong’.