Cal State Northridge Cuts Fees After State Refuses to Recognize Program

Confronted by a dozen psychology graduates who see two years’ work wasted by bureaucratic confusion, Cal State Northridge officials said Monday that they have offered to pay 75% of the students’ fees toward another master’s degree.

Two years ago, the students enrolled in a new program offered by the psychology department for a master’s degree in clinical health psychology.

They say that professors and administrators said the two-year regimen would prepare them to take a state licensing exam which, if passed, would allow them to counsel people with chronic or terminal illnesses.

But one student’s call to the state Board of Behavioral Science Examiners last December revealed that the course work and hundreds of hours of internships would not qualify them to take the test.

“They confirmed our last two years were basically flushable,” said the student, Carole Livengood, 46, of Reseda.

Months of negotiations have followed, resulting in the university’s offer Oct. 20 to waive most fees for future study.

The head of the state licensing board said it does not recognize the clinical health psychology curriculum. A master’s degree in educational psychology from Northridge would have positioned the students for the licensing exam, the official added.

While acknowledging that information from the psychology department was confusing, Northridge administrators said the program was never intended to lead to a state counseling license.

Mack Johnson, associate vice president for graduate studies at Northridge, said an internal probe uncovered no wrongdoing, but the university offered the reparations because “things were not black and white on either side.”

“In our review, we looked at communication that went between the department and students and we listened to what students said about what they were told,” Johnson said. “In our opinion, there was at least a sufficient ambiguity [in program literature]. But we are not looking at blame one way or the other.”

University officials have offered to waive 75% of the fees for the students to earn another master’s degree in any subject offered at the campus as long as they complete study by December 2003.

Johnson said the offer would cost the university about $45,000 if all 12 students re-enrolled, but only three have said they will do so, pending a deadline Friday.

The head of the state board that licenses psychologists and counselors said the university bears the burden of providing clear information about its programs.

“True, there’s no excuse for the students not to know the requirements,” said Sherry Mehl, executive officer of the state Board of Behavioral Science. “But the school can’t just call it even. Those people have given two years out of their lives.”

One student who borrowed $25,000 to complete the program said she would refuse the Northridge offer.

“I thought it was an investment for the long run. . . . I’d rather pay it off and move on than come back. That’s how painful it has become,” said Narma Ali, 27, of Marina del Rey.

Northridge President Jolene Koester said the university has gone beyond what is required by offering to pay for 46 class units.

“Clearly we recognize there are some misunderstandings that have occurred,” she said. “We are trying to move beyond the legalistic approach in trying to help the students reach their objectives.”

Since the students took their case to the administration in January, tenured psychology professor Dee Shepherd-Look has been replaced as program chairman. She remains on the faculty, and Johnson said the change was not related to the complaints.

Shepherd-Look did not return several phone calls made to her home and office seeking comment.

Twenty students still enrolled in the clinical health psychology program will be told that they also will not be qualified to sit for the licensing exam, Koester said.