A new cross-campus class agreement will simplify the registration process and allow Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF students to take classes more easily at the opposite campus.

The agreement, announced last Tuesday, improves on previous agreements by outlining more precisely how many credit hours students can take and when they can take them, as well as enabling both schools to better budget for tuition fees.

“I’ve heard a lot from students and faculty about how much they value this relationship,” said Eric Spina, SU vice chancellor and provost. “(We) are excited by the fact that this does provide increased access and really does bring the institutions closer together at a time when that kind of collaboration is really helpful to higher education.”

While SU students will continue to have access to State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry courses on a space-available basis, ESF students now have a specified credit allotment for SU courses. The credit hour allotments for ESF students, starting in the 2013-14 academic school year, are as follows, according to ESF’s website:

• Freshmen entering ESF next fall will receive 16 credit hours.
• Transfer students will receive a minimum of four credit hours. This depends on how many credits they have when they transfer to ESF.
• Credit hours for current ESF upperclassmen will be determined by the number of credits they have already earned toward their ESF degree. Students will receive a minimum of four credit hours even if they have already surpassed the 16 credit hour maximum due to previous classes. They will also have the opportunity to petition for additional credit hours in order to take required courses.
• Graduate students will receive 15 credit hours at the start of their degree program.

In addition, ESF students can take no more than eight SU credit hours during their first 30 hours, and no more than 11 SU credit hours during their first 60 hours. ESF students can also purchase additional SU credit hours at approximately $340 per credit hour, according to the website.

A cross-campus class agreement between the two schools has existed since ESF became a SUNY school in 1911. Rather than duplicate classes and resources, SUNY officials thought it made more sense to have their students take additional classes at SU, said Robert French, ESF vice president for enrollment management and marketing, in an email.

Previously, SU would make a specified number of credit hours available to ESF students. SUNY would then pay SU based on the difference between the SU credit hours taken by ESF students and ESF credit hours taken by SU students, French said.

For example, ESF students are taking about 1,600 credit hours at SU this spring and SU students are registered for about 800 credit hours at ESF, French said, so SUNY will pay SU for the 800 credit hour difference.

But the number of credits taken by students at each school, and therefore the payment associated with it, has varied from year to year, making it difficult for long-term academic and budget planning, French said. The new agreement provides a more predictable budget, as credit hours are more predictable, he said.

The new agreement will also make the registration process easier for ESF students, French said. Under the previous agreement, students had to get permission from an adviser to enroll in SU classes, and often had to get multiple signatures in order to get their course approved. Now, the process will be easier and, since allowable SU credits are more defined, adjustments can be made to the course registration software so students can keep track of the SU credits they take, he said.

SU and ESF officials will examine the agreement together every year to determine whether the number of credits being taken is as expected, whether the right classes are being offered and whether the deal is a “win-win” for both schools, rather than a restriction, said Spina, SU’s vice chancellor and provost.

Although many ESF students had not heard of the new agreement, several said they appreciate the fact that they can take many different classes.

“There’s not a lot of variety,” said Hannah Comstock, a senior conservation biology major at ESF who has taken courses at SU. “I mean, the classes here are great, but I would have liked to have explored other options.”

Hope Papapietro, an ESF freshman chemistry major, said she didn’t experience many problems enrolling in the SU psychology class she’s currently taking, but is still glad the rules for taking SU classes are now clearer.

“Now I don’t have to feel bad about it,” she said. “Like I’m betraying ESF or something.”

Published on February 10, 2013 at 11:23 pm

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta