UCLA MSW Program: Pre-Licensure Coursework

Last year, UCLA MSW students felt one consequence of California's budget crisis in a big way; tuition costs nearly doubled, increasing tuition to nearly $18,000 and $30,000 for California residents and non-residents respectfully. As expected, students became outraged and demanded faculty to find ways to mitigate enormous fee hikes.

This past fall, MSW faculty announced a few ways they were going to offset professional fee increases, including the decision to offer pre-licensure courses for students planning to become Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs). The following is a list of the five required pre-licensure exams (UCLA will provide condensed versions of each class that will still qualify students to sit for licensing exams):

1. Child Abuse Assessment and Reporting (seven hours)
2. Human Sexuality (ten hours)
3. Substance Abuse Dependency (fifteen hours)
4. Spousal/Partner Abuse Assessment, Detection and Intervention (fifteen hours)
5. Aging and Long-Term Care (ten hours)

Although faculty and administration have just started moving in the right direction, I do believe this promise is a great first step in appeasing valid concerns and frustrations over tuition hikes. Pre-licensure courses are extremely practical for micro students, as it will help students save time and money.

Unfortunately, field faculty recently informed one of my classmates that the pre-licensure classes will not be available to 1st year MSW students, the reason being twofold: (1) Faculty wants to ensure that 2nd year MSW students will have a spot in the class. (2) Topics covered in the pre-licensure courses are more advanced than the 1st year curriculum.

To be frank, I feel it is unfortunate that 1st year students are not allowed to participate in the pre-licensure courses. It's inevitable that some students will not be able to complete all five courses (scheduling conflicts always seem to get in the way!). It would be nice to have the opportunity to make up for a missed class. Graduates will then be forced to pay for and find the time to take one of these courses later.

Dare I ask what faculty has in mind to appease macro students?