NORTHRIDGE : CSUN Sets Up 4-Year Degree Pledge Project

Cal State Northridge officials have set up a new four-year degree pledge program aimed at helping incoming freshmen earn their degrees in four years, said Margaret Fieweger, associate vice president of academic programs.

Announcement of the new program follows the release of statistics from the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. showing CSUN to have among the worst graduation rates of the 298 major schools surveyed and the lowest of the Cal State schools.

The four-year pledge program is the latest in a series of steps taken by university officials to address the low rates. University President Blenda J. Wilson has also said she will survey graduating CSUN seniors to determine why so many take six years or more to graduate.

Only 29% of CSUN’s freshmen from the classes entering in 1983 through 1986 had graduated within six years, according to numbers released by the NCAA earlier this year.

Fieweger defended the university’s record, explaining that the new program will help establish how many students actually want to graduate in four years, and how many take longer because they choose too.

“Students may be supporting themselves or rearing a family. We’ve opened up the university to people who we haven’t opened it up to before. To put them up to that four-year benchmark isn’t appropriate,” Fieweger said.

Information on the four-year pledge program will be mailed to incoming freshmen who score high enough on placement exams to qualify for college-level classes, Fieweger said. Those who choose to sign a four-year degree pledge must declare a major and agree to take at least 31 units per year and maintain the grade point average needed for their major. In exchange, the university will appoint four-year degree advisers in each academic department to help students with long-range planning and to make sure they get into the classes they need.

The four-year advisers will receive special training and information on long-range academic planning beyond the preparation the regular advising staff receives, she said.