Part 27: Where Credit is Due

The theatre building at UMBC was packed, with lines snaking through the hallways. Although the school had been around for 15 or so years, the campus didn’t have much in the way of amenities in 1982. There was no student union yet, nor the University Commons.

There was one main cafeteria at the west end of The Quad. The Rathskeller was located in the old administration building up the hill. Most of the student services, including registration, were crowded into the theatre building.

I waited in line to schedule my classes, leafing through The Retriever, the weekly student paper.

Between the 2-year degree for paramedic training and my aborted nursing education, UMBC credited me with all the general requirements for the baccalaureate degree. All I needed to take was the core emergency health services curriculum, a series of classes that should take 18 months to two years.

The EHS department told me which classes to sign up for, introductory and management courses. My paperwork was all filled out by the time I was at the registrar’s counter.

“There’s one problem,” the clerk told me. “This is only a 10-credit load. You need to take at least 12 credit hours to be eligible for the Pell Grant. You have to be a full-time student.”

What should I do?

“You can come back later, or pick another class from the catalog,” she said. “Anything, so long as it’s at least 2 credit hours.”

I looked back at the line of students behind me, then quickly flipped through the class catalog. My eyes fell on an item within the English department: an independent study. Two one-on-one sessions each week with a Baltimore Sun reporter. No prerequisite. Two credit hours. Perfect.

“I’ll take this independent study,” I told the clerk.