To obtain 12 units to be considered a full-time student is arguably the most frustrating part about registering for classes.
The units required to be a full-time student need to be lowered to nine units.
According to Pierce College’s General Catalog, a student is considered full-time when they are enrolled in 12 or more units per semester.
Students should be allowed to take a minimum of nine University of California and California State University transferable units a semester and still be considered a full-time.
Students need to meet unit requirements for many reasons. They may need to qualify for athletic programs, certain types of financial aid like scholarships and grants or for their job, especially if they’re employed on campus as a student worker.
According to the Los Angeles Community College District, to qualify as a student worker you must have 12 units at your primary institution and are allowed to work up to a maximum of 25 hours.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, qualifications for the Federal Pell Grant say that the money you receive is based on your status as a full-time or part-time student and a full-time undergraduate is expected to complete at least 24 semester hours, which is 12 units a semester.
When trying to take the appropriate courses to fulfill general education or associate’s degree requirements, you don’t want to take irrelevant courses. This often happens when trying to meet unit requirements.
It is suggested that if you’re taking 12 units, you need to spend twice that amount of time in hours on homework and studying outside of class. That’s nearly 36 hours spent in school on homework and studying.
If you’re a student worker with the required 12 units and work the 25 hours, that’s 61 hours out of your 168-hour week. Depending on what subjects you take, that still might not be enough time because you certainly won’t get enough sleep and a personal life is non-existent.
If the requirement were lowered to nine units it would relieve the stress that some students feel when they are overwhelmed by their work during the week.
The minimum number of full-time units is quite overwhelming and almost impossible to achieve, especially when necessary classes seem unattainable.
If students were able to take nine transferable units per semester to qualify as a full-time student, not only would this help the institution with enrollment but would increase their transfer success rates.
Lowering the unit requirements for students would allow our college and district to thrive.
