Show Pag 9 4 The Aggie Review Student bargain? 7 It can also be assumed that those students who decide to take the CLEP tests are generally the students with the highest ability At USU the average GPA for "CLEP" sophomores is th& same 28 compared to the lower GPA of Freshmen which is 25 Apparently the effect CLEP tests have on how long it takes a student to graduate depends heavily on the student's major For example there have been no CLEP graduates at Utah State from the College of Engineering The highest number of CLfP graduates at USU has come from the College of Education Eugene Kartchner an advisor for students in the College of Business said that he didn't know of very many business students who have been able to graduate a year early But he said the CLEP has allowed quite a few students to shorten their stay by a quarter or two or allow them to take lighter loads each quarter and work trHhe same time "I believe it is mostly the exceptional student that graduates early from the CLEP" he said "I don't think it has had that much influence on the average student getting out -- early" M Judd Harmon dean of the College of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences said that the CLEP tests haven't been in use long enoO'gh yet to feel the ful effect of them "I think the CLEP tests are a trend throughout the US and in my opinion a very valuable one" Harmon said "The tests screen out students who already know the material so he or she doesn't have to waste time by duplicating information they are already familiar with I'm In favor of it because it saves both the students and the state quite a bit of money" Dean Harmon said that if a student CLEPed but decided to stay another year he could take classes he wouldn't otherwise be able to take because of General Education requirements Harmon said the student would be able to gain more information in a shorter period of time 5 I "I believe it is mostly the ex- student that ceptional graduates early from the CLEP I don't think it has had that much influence on the average student getting out early" According to Elliot Rich assoc dean of the College of Engineering a lot of engineering students take the CLEP tests and do well on them but because of the nature of the engineering program it usually takes them four years to graduate "We have worked out a program where a student who receives full credit on the CLEP can graduate in three years and one quarter No one has chosen to do this yet because it would mean they would have to take a full load of engineering science wTfh no General Education breathers" Rich said they encourage engineering students to take the CLEP in order to enrich their engineering sequence even if it does not allow the student to graduate early Some CLEP graduates may also decide to take advantage of their three-yea- r degree and remain in school to obtain a higher degree The number of students graduating in three years does not seem to be as significant as the number of students using CLEP or other means to reduce the total time in school by one or more quarters Some students indicate they took the CLEP for the purpose of earning credit to meet specific requirements and nfit merely to amass credits towards graduation and-math-class- I -- es if I j I 1 “ t I CLEP tost credits enable this student to spend more time taking elective courses Becky Gillette Is a Junior at USU She has written extensively for Student Life and Is currently a stringer for the Associated Press In Logan V |