Nearly 800 UTRGV students received an email Oct. 24 regarding technical or vocational classes not counting toward their degree requirements, but according to a university official, it will not affect them on their graduation path.
“Students who received the letter regarding the technical credit will have contact information on there, specific to their situation,” said University Registrar Sofia Montes. “So, I would advise them to look carefully at the letter and contact the office that’s identified there for them.”
Montes clarified that the change is referenced specifically to Degree Works.
“There is, and has been for years, an academic policy already that indicates students can’t use any technical or vocational credits towards degree requirements at UTRGV,” she said.
According to the UTRGV website, Degree Works is an online degree evaluation tool that allows students to track class progress toward graduation.
“What Degree Works has the capability of doing now, is to specifically list where those technical credits fall,” Montes said. “So, it kind of separates them so it makes it easier for students to see their technical credits and see how many total hours they have in technical credit that won’t count towards their degree.”
Lorena Martinez, a social work freshman, said UTRGV should accept technical and vocational courses when students transfer their credits.
“I mean, they should accept them because some people, like, they come with all those credits that they wasted time and probably money too, right,” Martinez said in an interview with The Rider last Tuesday. “So, it would be kind of unfair for people to come here and think ‘Oh, they accept them,’ and at the end, they have to take those classes [again], waste more money and waste more time on it.”
Montes said UTRGV not accepting technical and vocational courses is not an uncommon practice.
“So, this aligns with other expectations and requirements from other governing bodies too,” she said. “So, it’s not just done at UTRGV, it’s done in other institutions also.”
Montes explained technical or vocational classes are courses taken toward a two-year degree.
According to the UTRGV 2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalog, vocational or technical courses are “filing methods and vocational or technical training courses such as shop courses, welding, carpentry, plumbing and masonry are not transferable.”
Montes also said Licensed Vocational Nurse is another example of a vocational course.
Asked what courses are transferable to UTRGV, she replied, “It’s important to distinguish between what’s transferable and what’s degree applicable, because students can transfer credits towards UTRGV but depending on the nature of the course, whether it’s not technical or vocational, it might be applied toward the degree.”
Montes advises students who have a hard time transferring their credits from other institutions to use their most current and complete transcripts.
“That is the best thing to do and the Undergraduate Admissions Office will go through any received transcript to evaluate all incoming credits, and apply it as much as possible towards the student core requirement and any other areas that it might fall into.”
For more information regarding transferable credits, visit the UTRGV 2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalog at https://www.utrgv.edu/_files/documents/academics/catalogs/2018-2019-undergraduate-catalog.pdf.
