[PLUG] Linux Plumbers student...

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 16:05:08 -0700
"Sarah A Sharp" <saharabeara at gmail.com> dijo:

> On Sun, Aug 3, 2008 at 2:08 PM, robinson-west user
> <plug_1 at robinson-west.com> wrote:
> > Why do you have to be a full time student to register?  Computer Science
> > isn't exactly the easiest field to get into.  Between the physics and
> > math requirements alone, CS is extremely challenging.  I guess I'm
> > wondering why part time students are excluded?
> 
> We mostly wanted to make sure someone wasn't trying to get a lowered
> admissions price because they were just taking a PE class.  I'll talk it
> over with the conference organizers and see if they're up for allowing
> part time students to attend Student Day.  Would requiring students to
> be registered for four credits or more seem like a reasonable
> requirement?

First, whatever registration requirement you decide on, how do you plan
to verify it? For example, I have a PSU student ID card, a pdx.edu
e-mail account, and an ODIN account, yet I am not registered for any
courses at all this (summer) term.

Second, Portland State is an urban university. Its enrollment is 32%
graduate students, who mostly take only one or two courses at a time
because they have full time jobs. And that goes for about half the
undergraduates as well. The average undergraduate at PSU takes six
years to complete the degree.

Third, if you are taking a PE course at PSU it is probably because your
are a PE major, so it is a regular full course with the usual academic
rigor. 

I understand your intent; I merely wish to point out that enforcing it
by requiring that a person be currently registered for a particular
number of hours may be impractical. I would suggest that you use the
same standard as commercial software companies do when offering
academic prices for their software - which is just an ID card with a
student number.