Add codes could soon have expiration dates and the practice of Faculty Initiated Prerequisite Override could be eliminated.

These are just a couple of ideas being tossed around that could come into fruition by next semester.

The Student Services Council (SSC) has proposed the addition of expiration dates to add codes, claiming students wait until the last minute to add courses.

“The idea for issuing add codes that expire before the add/drop deadline is an effort to get students to enroll in classes earlier and eliminate the practice of course “shopping,” said City College Counselor and Associate Professor Edwin Hiel.

The proposal is to have add codes that have a 24, 48 or 72 hour expiration date. If the student does not enroll within the time allotted that student cannot enroll in the course anymore.

“In my opinion, I think it’s good because there should always be a deadline for everything. But I think they should extend the due date for the add classes until the end of the month.” said City College student Alberto Sanchez.

Another City College student, Isys Avila, had a differing opinion.

“Personally I don’t think they should have expiration dates. Sometimes students are preoccupied with work and other activities and just might forget to add the class. It has happened to me.”

Although the expiration dates are just an idea floating around at the moment, the Counseling Department and the College Academic Senate will discuss the proposals before the SSC and decide whether this could be implemented or not.

Another idea being pitched is the elimination of Faculty Initiated Prerequisite Override.

At the moment there are three ways for students to enroll into a course without the proper prerequisites; by petition, counselor and the third, which would be the one that could be eliminated, is by an instructor.

Currently, instructors are able to enroll students in their courses even if the student has not met the proper class prerequisites, as long as the instructor deems the student capable of performing at the academic level or standard.

“This long standing practice has recognized that the instructor of a class is the area expert and this option gave faculty the ability to enroll a student in their own class if they felt that the student was sufficiently prepared to do well in the class even though the prerequisites have not been met on paper.” Hiel said.

If instructors were to lose the prerequisite override, students can still challenge the prerequisite by providing evidence that they have the same set skills necessary to perform well in the course.

“We want students to go through an objective process,” said Vice President of Student Services Peter White. “But at this point they’re only ideas…”