February 11, 2015

By Ruth Serven

As college degrees become more expensive and careers in journalism more skill-intensive, the MU School of Journalism has decided to tweak its graduation requirements.

School of Journalism faculty voted recently to lower required credits for a Bachelor of Journalism from 123 to 120, and to allow up to four additional journalism credits to count for the Bachelor of Journalism degree.

“The majority of faculty feel that the flexible credits will be of great benefit to students,” said Lynda Kraxberger, School of Journalism associate dean. “Although a few felt that if you give journalism students more electives, there would be less attention paid to the liberal arts.”

Kraxberger said she and journalism senior academic advisor Pete Ozias had been discussing the changes with journalism faculty for over a year.

Ozias said that since journalism students often have little room for elective hours, many must make hard decisions regarding what they want to study and what may benefit their future career.

“I think when students get to the last year, their senior year, they have a big sense of urgency,” Ozias said. “As they plan what they’re going to do when they graduate, many want to polish off a few more skills that they think will help them get jobs. This change will allow them more flexibility to do that.”

No dates have been set for the changes, but Kraxberger anticipates the flexible credits rule going into effect for students graduating in December 2015.

“However, if they talk to their advisors now, seniors graduating in May 2015 may be able to use this,” she said.

Lowering the amount of credits required will have the most impact on students who are financially strapped, Kraxberger said.

“Many students graduate with more credits than are required,” she said. “But there are about 10 to 20 percent of our students who are financially strapped and worried about money, and so by lowering the amount of credits required, we’re lowering the cost for them to graduate.”

The admissions office estimates a cost of tuition of $274 per credit hour for in-state students for the spring 2015 semester. If a journalism student graduates with 120 credits, he or she will spend $32,380 over four years on tuition alone. This number does not take into account the journalism fee of $74 per credit hour, other fees and the cost of books, software and a new MacBook Pro.

As curriculum and graduation requirements become more complex, Ozias and Kraxberger stressed the role of the advising office.

“It can be very hard to keep track of rules and changes,” Ozias said. “That’s why it’s so important that students see their advisors and communicate with them.”

But Kraxberger emphasized that the core requirements of the School of Journalism will remain the same.

“Digital skills are being sought by employers and we’re trying to give our students as many skills as possible, but for me the most important, at the baseline, is critical thinking,” she said. “If you don’t have critical thinking skills, you won’t be able to take advantage of any of our classes. In other words, you might be able to take a photograph, but you wouldn’t necessarily know whether that photograph is relevant to your story. We’ll continue to teach critical thinking, no matter what else changes.”