By LUCIE BURNS
News Editor
Despite the college’s establishment of teach-out programs and the claim of support for students with their academic futures, some are left with problems they have to solve themselves and a lack of encouragement and vital information from the school.
Teach-out programs, which are legally required by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education to be established when a college closes, appear to be not always living up to early promises as students delve deeper into the process. Some students have discovered that their particular majors are unique, making it difficult to fix with a teach-out program and its proposed benefits, something never brought up when the school first announced it would close..
Mia Quick, a junior communications major, has planned to transfer to another school and switch her major in order to graduate on time, which is a plan she had to orchestrate on her own. “If I had done the teach-out route I would have been set back quite a bit and most likely would have had to stay in school for longer– which I cannot do,” said Quick. She learned her credits with the teach-out program that had been agreed on between schools could not be transferred while keeping her on track to graduate the same year, despite the teach-out claim that students will not lose any time.
Despite the guarantee that the teach-out programs are supposed to provide a seamless transfer, students are facing problems when it comes to credits they need or ones they have already taken. On one hand, different schools require contrasting general education courses.
“A lot of the information is still unknown or courses aren’t deemed equivalent for unknown reasons,” said Quick. “Other schools have different requirements. So, while I’m trying to play catch up with my major requirements or planning to retake courses I’ve already taken at Saint Rose, I’m also adding even more gen ed courses.”
On the other hand, many of the required credits students have already taken at Saint Rose now aren’t needed at their new institution. “I’ve noticed many of the “core” or gen-ed classes I took at Saint Rose are not needed at UAlbany, so now I have a bunch of credits and classes I’ve taken that quite literally were for nothing in the long run, since they won’t count towards my degree post transfer,” said Abagail Dowen, a sophomore in the ASPIRE program who is dual majoring in adolescent special and general education, concentrating in English.
Dowen, who is dual-majoring, came across conflicting teach-out information regarding the ASPIRE program. “The largest issue with the UAlbany program is that when applying, I applied for the dual major and when I received my acceptance letter it was only for English education, meaning UAlbany does not have an adolescent special education major and it has left me to wait until Spring 2025 to see if they get approved, or else I am in the same situation as now and am left searching all over again for a new school,” said Dowen.
The complexity of some students’ programs or situations require a strategic and well-thought out plan, which is something they mostly were left to figure out for themselves. “Saint Rose has been helpful in helping provide me with school options that I’m interested in, but when it comes to actualizing transfer plans, it becomes a free for all,” said Quick. Quick’s advisor didn’t reach out to her regarding any of her future plans. “I found an ideal school, but I’m left on my own to figure out which credits transfer over as what…It would’ve been nice to have someone sit me down and explain how transferring works, and if the school had told us the school was closing sooner then I think they could’ve done so.”
Another problem with the teach-out programs is that for majors with a limited variety of options, students could very well be stuck going to a school they dislike, and unfortunately have to repeat this process over again. “My search for a college both after high school and now, has been limited to options based on which school even offers adolescent special ed,” said Dowen. “Then when I was able to find a school with my program, it was not a school I could see myself succeeding at outside of earning the degree.”
There are three majors still without a teach-out program; human resource management, forensic science, and inclusive early childhood education. With about three and a half months left until the next academic year, students who are in these programs will be left to scramble for plans if the teach-out turns out to be different than what was expected.
