@Otterma I signed a contract agreeing to graduate in 4 otherwise I’d lose my commissioning and have to pay back scholarship.
@ucbalumnus I’ll try to get something done. There was actually a protest over it at the beginning of this semester and nothing was done. A lot of people just basically got a slap in the face and an “oh well.”
@Undercrackers It’s funny too because each semester I have to update my 4 year plan and get it signed off by my officers and by the engineering department. I made a 4 year plan at the beginning of my freshman year, which is exactly what I am taking right now. They approved it and signed it.
I come back and they say, it’s no longer valid. I understand a pre-req is a pre-req but I just wish that they would make this take effect later or notify me a lot earlier so I’d cram that pre-req somewhere… somehow…
Anyways, went up as high as I could. The EE chair told me, regardless if I could take it concurrently or not, it wouldn’t matter because he says he wouldn’t approve taking 5 engineering classes (even though I am doing that right now…) unless I have a 4.0 GPA. And even then they don’t make exceptions.
My friend is an EE senior and he has to take that 1 design class in the fall. He already got disenrolled in ROTC, and he is just overall unhappy with how they dealt with the situation.
@happy1 That is why I wanted to just fight it. If they split a design class into 2, surely there should be different prereqs. I’d understand if 375 is a prereq for Design B but not Design A. Idk, you get 30 weeks instead of 15 weeks in the design class… So keeping same prereqs does not seem logical to me.
Was this just among a few students in the EE department? If it was only noticed by a few students in your major, that has much less effect than if it is noticed by the rest of the students at SDSU and the SDSU administration.
If you can get The Daily Aztec to publish an article and have it publicized all over campus, that may be more effective.
Seems like SDSU’s EE department is not holding up its end of the bargain.
After fighting with the EE department since this thread, it is transparent that they are unwilling to help. Every time I walk in, I am always greeted with a “What do you want?” and a “No we aren’t going to do anything about it so stop asking.” I tried to bring it up to Aztec Daily with no success.
After talking with my officers in ROTC, it is unfortunate that I am disenrolled and will be forced to pay back all the scholarship money that they gave me for my schooling through enlistment effective immediately. I plan on continuing my degree post enlistment.
Thank your support throughout the thread but one small change in the curriculum had changed my life, and it just sucks that nothing can be done due to the poor planning and decision making of the department.
You may want to post a summary in http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/san-diego-state-university/ with a link to this thread to warn students about the SDSU EE departrment’s tendency to change requirements without enough advance notice or allowing students partway through the old requirements to complete the old requirements.
@DefineGravity Did you escalate your discussion to leadership outside the EE department, such as the Dean of Engineering or Academic Affairs?
How about contacting your state level representatives or state senators for help (in your home district as well as the ones where SDSU is located)? Being forced to pay for extra semesters, losing your
commission/needing to pay back ROTC scholarships seems ludicrously punitive.
Do your parents pay your college bills? Have they been involved in trying to resolve the situation?
@DefineGravity, Did you take this matter up with your college’s Dean of Studies? At our college the rules in effect when students enroll are in force all 4 years. Go find a catalog from the year you enrolled. Those are the requirements you should have to meet.
@mamag2855 I escalated as far as I could. Talked to the Dean and said that these are requirements set out by the EE department and must be met, regardless of it being changed. No, I worked and paid for everything myself and was on scholarship. It’s too late now, I am disenrolled.
@austinmshauri I tried looking. Nothing around here can fulfill the requirement. I brought up my catalog and on the graduation requirements page it says “The university will try its best to uphold these requirements.” It doesn’t make sense that even in the most recent catalog, the split design class isn’t even on there. How do they expect us to plan ahead when they literally did it this semester?
@CheddarcheeseMN I tried talking to other faculties and they never had such change so they didn’t know what to do / say as it’s not their area of responsibility.
It just sucks because whatever I say, the answer is no.
Thanks for advice and suggestions but I have no other choice.
Maybe ABET would be interested in your story. http://www.abet.org/contact-us/
Will not help you, but if it comes up during accreditation review, it may put the SDSU EE department on notice.
@DefineGravity Such a sad and frustrating situation for you:( I still think that you should reach out to your state representatives to see if they can help in any way, since SDSU is a public U and receives state funding. You certainly seem to have been on a well thought out 4 year career path, which has been deep sixed for issues beyond your control. Be sure to communicate all of the proactive steps you took to stay on track with your 4 year plan.
It’s clearly too late to change the course of your college career (at least until you’re done with enlistment) but I believe this is likely grounds for a civil suit, which, if you can find a lawyer to take the case, would potentially at least net you a few million for your troubles (though it may be a few years before you see any of it).
Given their very unfair and arbitrary policy change has cost you significant money and career opportunity, get a lawyer. You stand to lose 4 years tuition, and whatever you would have been paid in the service. Make those public school bureacrats pay. Sue the uni, and personally the registrar, dept head and advisor who signed off on your plan.
Once you do that, if you can’t get this resolved, speak to a lawyer. It’s not that you necessarily can bring this to court, but sometimes, the involvement of a lawyer can get you further than you can get on your own.
I understand that you’re disenrolled from ROTC. I know that ship has sailed. I’m hoping you can at least get some redress.
**You may remain with the graduation requirements in effect
during the academic year in which you entered SDSU,**
another campus in the CSU system, or a California community
college, so long as you have remained in attendance at
least one semester or two quarters within a calendar year in
either the CSU or community college system. Absence due to
an approved educational leave or for attendance at another
regionally accredited institution of higher learning shall not be
considered an interruption in attendance if the absence does
not exceed two years. If you change or declare your majors
in subsequent years, however, you must adopt the major
and minor requirements in effect at the time of such change
or declaration. You may continue with the earlier catalog
only with regard to General Education and other graduation
requirements. If you are disqualified from San Diego State
University, you may maintain catalog rights for General Education
purposes only by enrolling immediately in a California
community college or another CSU campus. If you are subsequently
reinstated after a break in continuous enrollment,
you are subject to the requirements of the General Catalog
in effect during the semester in which you reenroll in the CSU
system or a California community college. If you have been
disqualified twice from SDSU, you cannot be awarded an
SDSU degree.
@bopper Thanks bopper, I showed them that part of the catalog too. This is what they showed me in the catalog:
"The university will make every effort to preserve the requirements
in this Graduation Requirements section for students subject
to this catalog according to the provisions enumerated below. "
They said they will make every effort to, but may change the requirements as need be.
I truly thank you for everyone’s advice! I will figure it out later down the road but for now, I have already been set up to enlist.
I too had some similar issues while in college. It was like banging your head against a wall. Only felt good when you stopped. My issue was minor compared to yours.
But you were harmed big time for what seems like a very callous and unforgiving action on the school’s part. I would still fight it. Not with the college, you’ll get nowhere there. Make an appointment with your state representative. Have copies of everything; catalogs, signed academic plans, letters from ROTC, etc. It only needs 5 to 10 minutes to explain your case. The college gets there funding from the state and so the state representative carries some clout in this situation. He/she should know how the citizens they represent are being treated.