Northeastern University's introduction of a new four'minus;year option to supplement its traditional five'minus;year cooperative education, or co'minus;op, program has been met with mixed reactions from the student body.
The co'minus;op program allows students to enhance their learning experience by working full'minus;time in place of taking classes during certain academic semesters.
Under the new four'minus;year program starting next fall, students will complete two full co'minus;op periods instead of the traditional three and will enroll in more online courses, according to Mike Armini, senior vice president of external affairs at Northeastern.
Armini explained that the option was introduced in response to students who choose to graduate in four years and as a result only manage to complete at most one co'minus;op. He believes that the four'minus;year plan will allow all Northeastern students to benefit fully from its co'minus;op tradition.
'As we saw more students interested in a four'minus;year degree, we took steps to make sure that if they were going to do that, it would be with two full co'minus;ops,' Armini told the Daily. 'To some extent, we are responding to student desire for flexibility, but doing it in a way to make sure co'minus;op is at the center of our educational model.'
Students graduating in four years will take a number of online courses while on co'minus;op in order to squeeze in graduation requirements. 'We have a fairly significant online educational set of options,' Armini said. '[Courses] will have efficiencies that will give students more flexibility.'
Discussions about starting a four'minus;year program have been ongoing over the past couple of years, and the possibility was formally studied in 2009, according to Armini.
'We finally worked out the curricular details,' he said. 'We wanted freshman applying to know that this was an option when applying in the fall.'
According to Armini, the administration believes the new option will soon supplant Northeastern's five'minus;year co'minus;op program as more students look to graduate in four years.
Northeastern University President Joseph Aoun told the Boston Globe in a Dec. 9 article that the change will 'spread like wildfire.'
The change has met with mixed responses from the Northeastern community.
Liz McClanahan, a sophomore at Northeastern, said that the four'minus;year program would be a good option for students who need to fit in graduate school or who cannot afford the expenses of living in Boston for five years.
'It's definitely a lot more work for students to choose [the four'minus;year] path but if they want to do it and can fit it in, it could be for them,' McClanahan, who is currently on the five'minus;year track, told the Daily.
Other Northeastern students however, had reservations about the new four'minus;year option. Freshman Katherine Leib believes that the four'minus;year program is merely an attempt by university administrators to raise the school's standing in college rankings.
'I think the only thing that's holding Northeastern back in the rankings is the fact that the four'minus;year graduation rate is very low because of the co'minus;op,' she said. 'They want to improve it by increasing our four'minus;year graduation rate.'
Lieb also criticized the program's usage of extra online courses. 'It's totally impersonal,' she said. 'I know if I were to do online courses, I wouldn't put as much effort into it. My GPA would suffer from that.'
Lieb explained that Northeastern's five'minus;year co'minus;op program is valuable because it offers students the opportunity to supplement course work with 18 months of full'minus;time, on'minus;the'minus;job experience.
'You get to figure out if that is the career path you want to go in,' she said. 'You aren't just interning; you are an integral part of the company and you are doing legitimate work.'
McClanahan, who will herself trade in one of her three co'minus;ops to study abroad, disagrees and believes that her two co'minus;op periods will provide enough experience.
'Two co'minus;ops is still a lot, and much more than most other schools do,' she said. 'Co'minus;op has definitely reinforced that I love what I'm majoring in, and it makes me feel so much more confident in my choice.'
In responding to criticism, Armini stressed that the four'minus;year option is an expansion of Northeastern's prided co'minus;op program because it ensures that students looking to graduate in four years can still benefit from the university's co'minus;op legacy.
'I think the bottom line is that [the option] will ensure that students have a full co'minus;op experience,' Armini said. 'We are taking this step to make sure that everyone who graduates with a degree from Northeastern has at least two co'minus;op experiences. Co'minus;op is in our DNA here, and we always need to find ways to invest in it.'
