Tom Walker
Junior Editor
The implementation of Course Program of Study (CPoS) financial aid guidelines has shaken up many students’ study plans. Sewanee’s website explains CPoS is “a U.S. Department of Education regulation that requires that the student be enrolled in an eligible degree-seeking program to receive state or federal financial aid (grants, loans, work-study compensation, etc.).”
Like many students, my CPoS journey started far before I was aware of the changes in the University’s tracking of students’ progress. On Oct. 9, 32 days before class registration, English professor, and my advisor, Dr. Kelly Malone heard about the CPoS guidelines at an advisor lunch. “The thing that was alarming to me was that I learned about it at an advisor lunch,” she told me. “I went because I wanted to be a good citizen. I honestly didn’t feel like there was anything that I was going to learn because I’ve been an advisor forever.”
The topic of CPoS was mentioned off-hand at that meeting, Malone said, and she and other professors asked for clarification. “There are new advisors, but those of us who have been doing this for a long time (might not have felt the need to attend the meeting). We felt that it wasn’t the right venue for that information. This needs to be an APB (all-points bulletin), it needs to be in a faculty meeting, and everybody needs to know that this is very serious.”
I learned about the CPoS guidelines on Oct. 25, 16 days before class registration, from fellow student Sam Goodwin (C’ 26), a pre-health department peer advisor, physical therapy peer advisor, and office of medicine and health professions employee. A few days earlier, a professor in Goodwin’s department had told her about how the new CPoS enforcement rules might affect
Sewanee students. As a peer advisor, Goodwin has been trying to help affected students. “I tell students that they need to speak to their advisors. They have access to a lot more information than I do.”
Goodwin told me her advice focused on how to get the classes necessary to comply with CPoS. “This Easter semester there aren’t as many biology courses available, so some biology majors couldn’t get any biology courses. At that point they need to talk to their advisors and professors to get an override to get into the class,” she said. “Professors don’t want you to lose your aid because you couldn’t get a class. They don’t want to mess up all of your graduation plans because you didn’t get into a class.”
However, I didn’t learn about CPoS through any of Goodwin’s official role as a peer advisor. She told me because she’s my girlfriend.
On Oct. 30, 11 days before class registration, Malone had her first advising appointment. Luckily for me, I was her first advisee, so I heard about the CPoS guidelines earlier than many other students. In our meeting, Malone told me that I was likely at risk of being CPoS non-compliant and that would restrict the courses I could take without losing financial aid. The planned course load I took into my meeting with Malone would’ve completed my philosophy major and caused me to lose all of my financial aid going into the next Advent semester.
Malone took it on herself to study the CPoS guidelines to help me and other advisees. “I’ve been trying as much as I can to figure out how the nuts and bolts of this will work,” she told me. “I think everybody in administration is as well.”
At the time of our advising meeting, neither Sewanee’s CPoS fact sheet nor the list of flagged students prepared by the administration were available for professors. The fact sheet was sent out Nov. 3, only one week before class registration, and the list of potentially affected students became available on Nov. 6. And it wasn’t until Nov. 7, 5 days before class registration, that affected students received an email notifying them that they were at risk of violating CPoS and potentially losing some of their state or federal financial aid funds.
“We don’t know how to advise our students to avoid losing financial aid and we don’t even know which students have financial aid. We can’t ask them. It would be inappropriate to ask them,” Malone told me. “That was my experience. There was this catastrophe rolling up on us. (The news of CPoS) came late.”
Economics professor Aaron Elrod shared similar views on an interview with News Editor Brendan Downes, explaining: “I didn’t necessarily know how to bring it up because of what I feel is something that should be left to the student to bring up.”
In my first advising session with another professor, we largely discussed what would be best for me as a philosophy major. Because I barely mentioned my worries about falling afoul of CPoS rules, I left with a plan that would have caused me to lose my financial aid. Luckily, between Goodwin and Malone I heard more than enough to change my plans. My worry is that other students may not have been so lucky.
Going forward, CPoS requirements may affect the opportunities available to students who bring in extra credits and have financial aid from the federal government or the state of Tennessee.
“It’s going to have to be a piece of (advising) and I dislike that,” Malone said. “I dislike that it’s a piece for some students and not for others. So, for some students we can say do whatever you want, but for other students we have to say that there are these considerations. I don’t think it is insurmountable, but we do have to be aware. It does suggest that advising students who have federal aid issues or state aid issues is going to be a slightly different animal than advising other students.”
At the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the student newspaper was told by state education agency officials that the goal of enforcing CPoS was keeping students on track with their degree program so they will graduate on time, take only courses that count toward their program of study, and minimize their education expenses. While the program certainly may push students to work towards graduation, it also forces students to graduate early and skip courses outside their majors that could improve their overall educational experience.
Many students, especially those dependent on federal and state of Tennessee financial aid, understand the value of their college education and are trying to make the most of it. The new requirements push those students to graduate early.
In other words, the system that is meant to ensure that students make the most out of their time in college is cracking down on the students who are making the most of their time in college. The perverse incentive for Sewanee students at risk of violating CPoS restrictions is to slow down on their focus of study.
In fact, that’s the advice I got when I spoke to Sewanee’s Dean Alex Bruce. While CPoS isn’t the kind of thing Sewanee can just refuse to comply with, it’s impossible not to notice who CPoS guidelines affect. They don’t affect those that are paying Sewanee’s sticker price or those who aren’t trying to excel in college. They affect those very students who know how valuable their aid is and are trying to squeeze every drop out of it.