In an effort to give college students more access to courses, a Senate bill has been introduced that would require California public colleges to accept faculty-approved online courses for credit.
Senate Bill 520, which was authored by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), would allow students to receive university-level credit for online courses from independent vendors.
According to Cal State University Spokesman Erik Fallis, however, students being able take all of their classes is a “complex, multifaceted issue.”
Fallis said the initiative to add a variety of courses online might be helpful but would not completely mend the issue.
Other factors have to be taken in to account as well, like students with undeclared majors, students who fail and repeat a course and students who don’t seek advising for their degree progress, Fallis said.
All of these issues contribute to the problem, Fallis said.
“It comes down to the details,” he said. “We have got to do an analysis of the bill before we take a standpoint.”
In January, Gov. Jerry Brown released his budget proposal, which allocated $10 million to the CSU to address bottleneck courses, or high-demand courses that fill up quickly, through the use of technology.
That same month, the CSU launched a degree completion online course program, Cal State Online. The program allows students to receive a degree through online courses from the CSU campus to which they were admitted.
However, Chair of the history department at Cal State Long Beach, Nancy Quam-Wickham, said she had many concerns over the bill.
Wickham said she worries about the “quality control” in online courses and that they will not match the universities’ standards.
“You wouldn’t have this kind of issue if higher education was better funded,” Wickham said. “It’s somewhat hasty to try to resolve a problem that’s far more complex.”
Students said they have mixed opinions of the bill.
Freshman psychology major Matthew Anderson said sitting in front of a computer isn’t the same as actually being in a room full of college students. He said he thinks socializing and meeting new people is part of being a college student.
“If you’re going to go to college, then go to college,” Anderson said.
Others students said they see the bill as an opportunity to advance in their degree progress.
“It’s getting harder and harder to graduate, so if they introduce more online classes, it would be beneficial,” junior film major Bryan Orozco said.
Some students, like junior environmental science and policy major Natalie Espinoza, said they were opposed to the bill.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable getting education from private vendors outside of school,” Espinoza said. “You’re losing the idea of community. I wouldn’t know anyone else or feel connected to the university.”
SB 520 is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate Education Committee.
