The University has announced a sweeping change to the number of credits needed to graduate across all undergraduate majors.
Starting fall 2026, all students will be required to complete 132 credits instead of the 120 to 124 credits currently needed. The new requirement applies to first-year students, sophomores and juniors. Seniors who are graduating this May are exempt.
Press Secretary to the Vice President of Academic Affairs Carolina Tevitt said the increase in credits was implemented to help prepare students to keep up with their soon-to-be Artificial Intelligence professors. The University plans to transition from human professors to all AI professors by 2028.
“If AI Professors are more efficient than human professors, then it is up to our students to match that increase in efficiency. At some point in their professional careers they will likely have an AI Boss, so they better get used to it now,” Tevitt said.
Students are up in arms about the sudden increase to their graduation requirements. Junior mass communications major Ross Wilson feels the decision makes it impossible for him to graduate next May.
“What in the actual heck are they thinking. This means I need to take 21 credits each semester next year. When am I supposed to sleep?” Wilson said.
English major Rachael Rogan believes the University’s decision to increase the credit requirements was for monetary gain.
“I mean its 12 credits, which many schools still consider a full time semester. Essentially it will cost us another 40k in tuition for another semester’s worth of classes,” Rogan said.
Tevitt said the students still have the ability complete the new credit requirements in time to graduate on a four year track.
“They have summer sessions, they have winter sessions, or, and I can’t stress this enough, they can just grow up and deal with the extra work load of a 21 credit semester,” Tevitt said.
First-year mass communications major Penelope Gomlak is heartbroken that she can’t spend her summer in Belgium with her parents as she had planned. Gomlak is staying stateside for both summer sessions to try to keep pace with the new credit requirements.
“I had a whole summer planned of traveling around the country, eating Belgian chocolate and drinking glasses of French wine. I can legally drink wine in Belgium. Now I will be stuck in my dorm drinking grape juice and reading Chaucer and dissecting Kantian philosophy,” Gomlak said. “Speaking of Kantian philosophy, the categorical imperative says to always treat people as an end and never a means. Well, we are being used as a means to make more money.”
Professor of Communications Melanie Choi thinks it’s unfair to force students to choose between overloading their schedules in the fall and spring or spending their summers in classes.
“I mean yeah, obviously I think it’s stupid. I don’t risking students’ mental health is ever the answer. I also don’t think losing my job to a machine is the answer, but I guess it’s the world we are living in. You should ask the robot professors what their opinion is on the subject. Apparently they have all the answers. ” Choi said.
Six of the additional credits will major electives and the other six will be additional core requirements. The new core classes that are required include Core T-1000: Programing Artificial Intelligence Robots and Core 220: Efficiency Seminar.