When it comes to tackling program planning responsibilities at the post-secondary level a sign that sat on the desk of U.S. President Harry Truman offers a piece of critical advice. Truman's sign simply said "The buck stops here". The sign was making reference to a common expression in his day "pass the buck" that referred to passing the responsibility on to someone else. The message translates seamlessly to the task of program planning because no matter how complicated the graduation requirements are for any program it is the student that is ultimately responsible for meeting them.

There is good news in knowing where the responsibility lies for program planning in advance. It allows you to develop a strategy for navigating this responsibility with no surprises at the end. The truly unfortunate folks are those that come to the end of a program and realize that they should have paid more attention to the program planning process. Following are five tips that will help you shoulder your program planning responsibilities:

1. Become Familiar with Post-Secondary Jargon - The type of terms thrown around will differ with career, vocational, technical and academic programs. These terms may also differ from institute to institute. Some typical words that you may come across in various programs include: credits, units, technical training portion of an apprenticeship, breadth requirements, or elective. Take the time to understand the words associated with your particular program so you are very comfortable with them when choosing courses to meet program requirements.

2. Get Advising Assistance - No matter which post-secondary program you have chosen you can always get help from at least one advisor. Students in some undergraduate degree programs may find that they are required to see more than one advisor to meet faculty departmental and program requirements. However, it's critical to remember when you see any advisor the information they provide is meant to assist you. Advisors within the post-secondary institutions do a phenomenal job, however the buck does not stop with them - it stops with you. So, for this reason any advice offered about graduation requirements should be double checked to guarantee it works for you. This can be done by referring to the institute's academic calendar/website and talking to program coordinator.

3. Don't rely solely on any electronic tool - In our electronic world we are moving towards a greater variety of tools to simplify our life. Not surprisingly students are looking for short cuts to help with the task of program planning. Currently, there are no electronic tools that are authorized by the post-secondary institutes in BC to meet program planning requirements.

A major problem with the idea of electronic advising tools is that the responsibility for program planning is taken away from students and placed in the hands of a database. The idea of taking the responsibility away from students for any reason has potential large pitfalls. At the end of the day, you will care more about meeting your program planning responsibilities than any database. So, make sure the buck stops in the right place!

4. Check and Recheck Your Progress - As you move towards meeting the graduation requirements of your program make sure to check your progress each semester. You don't want to put yourself in a position where you have to take extra courses near the end of a program because you overlooked a requirement. Also, you don't want to be in a position where you cornered yourself into taking a number of very demanding courses all at one time.

5. Another Pair of Eyes Can Be Helpful - Even after you have visited advisors, checked and re-checked your progress it is helpful to have a fellow student or friend, who is familiar with the requirements of your program, check to see how the courses you have selected are meshing with the overall requirements of your program.

There is no doubt that the program planning approach described above is extremely cautious. However, the time and frustration associated with not meeting program planning requirements is not something any students should have to deal with.

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