Hi, my daughter attended a community college and thought she had earned an associate degree. She was told that she had sufficient credits to graduate. She is now looking for work. But when she went back to get the actual diploma, she is told that she still doesn’t have enough credits. She never had an actual academic advisor. She says that every time she goes to their office, she is talking to a different person and this is not the first time that different persons told her different things. This is ridiculous, bogus, B.S. Is it possible to file a complaint with the agency that does their accreditation? I am thinking that if I go into their office and I am firm but courteous and threaten legal action, maybe they will give in. Any ideas?
Having calmed down a bit, maybe I try this. Go to the admissions office, describe the situation, get some feedback. Be polite. If it doesn’t seem like they are budging request documentation for the purpose of filing a complaint with the Illinois state board of education. Do they have a process? Does my daughter have a file? Can we see it? Why was she told that she had enough credits to graduate? Is that notated in her file? Is there a date and a name of who did the evaluation? When did they decide that she did not meet the requirements after all? Is that notated on her file? Is there a name and a date? Is it possible that their office is understaffed and they do not have sufficient resources to meet the needs of their students in a timely manner or perhaps training for their staff is inadequate?
— Check the requirements for an Associates degree in Illinois
— See if your daughter fulfills these requirement
— If not, then well there was an incompetent adviser and all you can do is complain (but really so many advisers in CC suck. I’ve had personal experience with this. Always double/triple/quadruple check your requirements)
– If you think she does, ask them where they think she doesn’t. What credits are left. And get those credits done.
– It is very, very unlikely the “agency” will care imo. Stuff like this happens a lot unfortunately.
Hope it all gets sorted out!
My guess is that degree requirements have changed since she was first enrolled, and so the people who she has been meeting with don’t know which catalogue should govern her graduation requirements. When the degree requirements change while students are enrolled, often students are allowed to choose which requirements they want to graduate under. Sometimes however, a college will require that all students who have not completed their degrees by a certain date must complete the newer set of requirements. My advice is that your daughter get copies of the academic catalogues that were in effect when she was enrolled. Each of them will list the specific requirements for her AA degree program, and those requirements might have changed more than once. The CC probably has links to the four or five most recent catalogues right on its website.
With copies of the pages from the catalogues that detail the degree program that she was pursuing, and a copy of her academic transcript, she can meet with the Registrar’s Office, and verify whether or not she has completed the degree under at least one set of requirements. If she’s met at least one set, and she can get her AA under those rules, then the Dean of the college should be able to fix things pretty quickly. If she hasn’t met any of the sets, or if she is obliged to graduate under the most recent set of requirements, then she will have to take those extra courses or find a major that she does have the credits for.
Sometimes it’s possible to have the hours/credits, but not the specific levels of courses. Or two courses overlap in a way that prevents each from counting toward grad credit, etc. Not only go over the original requirements/transcript, but read the fine print.