Son needs one more class to graduate

<p>Anyone had a kid with this situation? He thought he had everything, but needs one upper division history class to get his BS in computer engineering from Cal State Northridge. He was going to go up next week and take it this class but it's going to be about 2500 bucks with living expenses and tuition for this one class, but will only take 6 weeks. He is not good and finding out info and never has been. I am wondering if he can take this class down here at San Diego State 15 minutes from our house. Where would we go to find out this info? Where do we start?</p>

<p>1) Find a similar class at SD State. 2) Call the registrar at Cal State Northridge and make your case. This really is something your son should do.</p>

<p>Yes, he should and will do it. He is also trying to make a decision on whether to go ahead and take the class up at northridge or try and take it down here. He is torn about it. He is also quite a procrasinator. He seems to “roll with where the wind takes him” sometimes. (A lot of the time.) This class starts July 11th!</p>

<p>Session 2 at SDSU starts on Monday so I don’t see that working. I would head over to campus and ask admissions about taking the class there for fall. They have already finished accepting people for the fall but maybe they would make an exception based on your sons situation.</p>

<p>He/you need to check with the Registrar at CSN. They may not accept any additional ‘transfer’ credits after Junior year has been completed.</p>

<p>$2600? Can he commute to CSUN?</p>

<p>Just take the class at CSUN, IMO. $2600 is cheap or par for summer class, esp. including living expenses, in my experience, and it’s not worth waiting until December to graduate.</p>

<p>Like psych, I suggest getting it over with this summer, if that’s still possible.</p>

<p>Taking a class during the fall semester would interfere with his ability to focus on whatever job he is working at during that time.</p>

<p>DD had one core course requirement to finish to get her dual degrees. Her school offers online courses and her advisor worked with her to find one that she completed from HOME (3000 miles away from the college) last summer. Hers was a situation where the school really wanted to help because she had to withdraw from this course for health reasons during the winter term.</p>

<p>So…I would suggest that your son check with his college to see if he could do an online course to fulfill this requirement.</p>

<p>I will say…DD walked in graduation prior to taking the online course (she had completed her courses for ONE major but not the second) and this course agreement was all set before she did so.</p>

<p>“He seems to ‘roll with where the wind takes him’ sometimes.”</p>

<p>Well the wind has blown him to San Diego … all in all a pretty nice destination. If he can take the course there, he should. (If he’d just started a job in Boston, would CSN even be a consideration?) Most universities insist that a certain number of credits be earned at their university. I’m sure your S is safely above that number. So take the course in San Diego AFTER the CSN Registrar agrees to accept transfer credit for the course.</p>

<p>His school probably has an official policy of “the last xx credits need to be taken in residence here” but they also probably have an unofficial policy that permits exceptions in cases like this where all other requirements for graduation have been fulfilled. This happened to my son, who was given bad advice about which history class filled a requirement by a professional advisor, and who had to take another class after he had already officially graduated. Just make sure his school will accept the transfer credits before he signs up for the course near home.</p>

<p>Yes, there should be someone at his home campus who has the authority to allow this, especially since it is another CSU campus and they should have some recognised level of parity in classes.</p>

<p>If SDSU begins Monday, can he show up and be part of that class even if the details are not yet determined? That way he does not miss any work, summer classes move quickly</p>

<p>Thanks for all the advice. Yes, this is how my son rolls. We are used to it now. We live in San Diego and Northridge is almost a 3 hour drive, so no, commuting is not an option. LOL! I will have him call CSUN Monday. He just applied for some interships in San Diego, so we will see what turns up with that. He took 18 units and senior project senior year, plus a small lab job, he was super busy and when he got home in June I think he just needed a break and failed to get details about this. We had out of town company and my other son graduating from high school so I’ve been busy and am now just getting around to this. I know it’s no excuse.</p>

<p>I’m very confused about this situation. Surely your SENIOR son was very aware of this situation as a missing course would prevent him from graduating unless his school allowed him to “walk” with that missing course. Still, he would not have completed his requirements and would therefore, not have graduated, right?</p>

<p>Don’t the Cal States have an online course he could take to satisfy this requirement? Check and see.</p>

<p>thumper1, he thought he had everything he needed. He was told at the beginning of the year by someone that another class he had taken would be accepted. He has MORE than enought credits. What can I do? What can I say? Not much at this point. This is the California public college system we are dealing with. He’s been dealing with it 5 years now. He might even be able to take this history class at a community college. We will see. Not sure yet. I will see that he gets to the bottom of it. It’s something I’ve been letting him handle all along. I don’t hover over his college onlline info. I have no access to it. We communicate the best we can. He would have been able to walk, except he waited too long to get things in order. He said he was OK with not walking. To him, it’s about the degree. I am not sure about the online course, I will surely ask him to check!</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Your son sounds like he is not on top of things. Don’t blame the system.</p>

<p>How would he be even able to take the class at a CC?</p>

<p>He thought he had everything, but needs one upper division history class to get his BS in computer engineering from Cal State Northridge.</p>

<p>CSU’s require seniors to submit a “grad check” during the fall of senior year. This is done so that a forgotten class can still be taken during spring semester.</p>

<p>So, your son should have done that in the fall and gotten a written document of what he still needed. This comes from the Registrar’s Office. Did he do that? And if so, what does the document say?</p>

<p>I doubt that he has to take this last class at Northridge. He probably could take it locally in San Diego.</p>

<p>An upper division history class??? for an engineering major? Is that a new CSU req’t?</p>

<p>I think that you need to get involved as well at this point since it doesn’t look like he’s got all the info.</p>

<p>OP- If I had a buck for every adult I know who does not actually have a college degree because of (pick your poison) “one last credit” or “an incomplete that wasn’t even in my major” or “I would have needed to go to summer school but my job started July 1” or “my cousin was getting married and I was her maid of honor” or “I didn’t want to pay for the final course and my job had tuition reimubursment so i figured I’d take it once I was employed but then I found out there was a one year waiting period before you were eligible and by then I was going to transfer to a satellite office”… yadda yadda yadda.</p>

<p>Simple solution- pony up and pay for the final course. In the end, it will be the cheapest and easiest solution. If your son is one to procrastinate, you will find that life gets in the way. Not just senior year, not just last semester, not just when it involves walking in graduation. But in life. There is a pretty neat solution in front of you (take the course) and a whole array of other options that with some time, initiative, and lots of making of phone calls and being put on hold and writing appeals letters, and figuring out of calendars, your son could manage.</p>

<p>Is he going to do the neat solution (pay the money, take the course, get a degree) or spend the next few weeks on the phone and respectfully asking, “may I speak to your supervisor” when he doesn’t get the answer he needs? And THEN having to pay some money, take the course, submit the grades, wait for a department chair or the registrar to review the syllabus and THEN get the degree?</p>

<p>Which one sounds like your son?</p>

<p>He did the official grad check in mid May. He admitted he didn’t do what he needed to senior year, hence, he didn’t walk. He was just told verbally earlier in senior year he had all the credits he needed, everything was good. So, now he officially has everything but this history class. Apparently it comes down to reading the course description of this class. I don’t know, I am clueless and new to this. It may be a general ed class for all I know. He orginally told me it was an upper division GE class. sigh… I’ve told him $2500 is small in the grand scheme of things and he should go up and take the class and get it over with. But he was torn and thought maybe he could just get it done down here. I hate to beat a dead horse over a history class…I love history. He’s worked very hard for this degree. It didn’t come easy for him and I know he will get it.</p>

<p>blossom, I appreciate that advice. You have a great point in which I will ponder and greatly take up with him!</p>