Give Us a Little Credit

In all but a few circumstances, Columbia College prohibits students from receiving academic credit for summer courses taken at other universities, making it unnecessarily difficult for students who wish to intern or spend their summers outside of New York City. The college should make it easier for students to receive credit for such classes, so long as their planned courses of study have been approved by the Center for Student Advising and the relevant Columbia departments.

As it stands, University policy regarding credit acknowledgement varies from school to school. Students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science can easily take summer courses outside of Columbia so long as they fulfill their preprofessional and Core requirements here, though only one outside course can be counted toward a minor. Students in Barnard College and the School of General Studies may also pursue summer study at any accredited university. A CC student, on the other hand, can only take summer courses for credit outside of Columbia under three circumstances: the student has fallen behind in the number of credits required for graduation, needs a prerequisite for a major course that must be taken in the fall, or plans to take an intensive language course. Students from all four schools are subject to a limit on the number of credits they can accrue in a given summer.

Permitting SEAS but not CC students to earn summer credit at other universities makes little sense. Students at both schools should have similar latitude to earn points over the summer since they are subject to similar academic guidelines. While CC rightly insists that its students take challenging courses throughout their undergraduate careers, limiting CC students’ ability to study outside of Columbia prevents them from taking full advantage of summer opportunities. Students who wish to intern or work outside of New York City generally must choose between pursuing professional options and taking courses for credit in the city. Those who, in pursuit of joint-degree programs or double majors, find it necessary to continue their coursework over the summer often must do so at Columbia. Still other students may have to stay in Manhattan to take prerequisites for elective courses they would like to take in the fall. In short, there are many legitimate reasons why a student would enroll in a summer course—and the cost of living on campus is reason enough to consider doing so elsewhere.

The rigor of a Columbia education will not suffer from greater flexibility on this score. Many academic institutions maintain a caliber of study equivalent to that at Columbia. CC students should be allowed to study at other universities so long as their planned curricula meet with the approval of both the advising department and the academic department corresponding to the courses they intend to take. To help interested students know where to look, each department should create a list of schools from which it will accept summer course credit, and perhaps even designate specific courses in these schools. Coursework that falls outside of these designated institutions or substitutable classes should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

To be sure, CC should limit the number of points that can be earned through classes at outside institutions so that all students pursue the lion’s share of their studies in Morningside Heights. But permitting CC students to receive credit for off-campus summer studies will make it possible for them to take additional courses while gaining perspective on the world outside the gates. Broadening the criteria for summer course credit need not mar the integrity of a Columbia degree.