College is giving daughter a hard time about DCP

[reebs2]

As a concerned father I'm turning to the Board for some information.

My daughter has gone through her two computer questionnaires and her phone interview and is feeling pretty confident about being accepted (I hope I didn't jinx it by saying that). She has done the responsible thing and gone to talk to her school counselor and the administration office about the DCP and was really disappointed about the responses she received.

It seems they gave her a big attitude about her going to the DCP and told her that she wouldn't be getting any credit for her time. They told her "it's not a REAL school" and won't accept any class credit. They even told her that if they receive any transcripts that they would just toss them in the trash.

In addition, since she'll be out of school during that time she will essentially he withdrawn from college and will have to re-apply once the DCP is over. Also, if she is gone for more than 6 months her student loans will become due. If she is NOT gone for 6 months, the time away will count against her 6 month grace period after graduation to start paying on her loans.

She's dreamed about doing the DCP since she was in grade school (we have a family friend who did this years ago and is still working at Disney) and now sees this possibly slipping away.

Has anyone else heard of a school giving a student problems about the DCP? She attends a small college so my gut feeling is that the school feels that they'll be losing money if she leaves so they won't support her.

 

[haileyaliyah]

my daughter is doing dcp right now she did fall fa. Her school did not accept any credit from the program and was not very helpful in any suggestions for the time she was taking off. She could still be enrolled in the school and take online classes, but with the work hours they have it was very hard to try and maintain getting school work done, She choose to take the time off from school as this can be a once in a life time opportunity . She will go back to school when she returns home. It has been a great opportunity for her but also a long one too. Have her think about the pro's and con's of both school and doing dcp.

 

[Irish_Mike]

I actually just spoke to my University about a lot of similar concerns, and I know that we likely don't go to the same school, but I'll try and give some suggestions from what I got.

It seems they gave her a big attitude about her going to the DCP and told her that she wouldn't be getting any credit for her time. They told her "it's not a REAL school" and won't accept any class credit. They even told her that if they receive any transcripts that they would just toss them in the trash.

My biggest concern is that the courses offered through the DCP won't fit my major/minor, and that any credits I do take will just count as electives. I know it's not exactly similar, but it's generally the same - worrying that the credits we get from the classes won't transfer or count.

I'd say an ideal option would be taking an online course or two - either during the winter break (Usually December-January), or taking one while down in Florida through her university, or one similar to it. This will allow her to get credits, enjoy the program, and hopefully appease the school on what classes are "real school".

In addition, since she'll be out of school during that time she will essentially he withdrawn from college and will have to re-apply once the DCP is over. Also, if she is gone for more than 6 months her student loans will become due. If she is NOT gone for 6 months, the time away will count against her 6 month grace period after graduation to start paying on her loans.

I'm a bit more iffy on this issue, since I need to go to Financial Aid on Monday and discuss it with them. However, at a lot of universities, they offer a "Leave of Absence" - meaning, you can not attend for a semester or two, yet remain enrolled so that you don't have to re-enroll when you return. It's worth a mention or looking into - usually, they'll have information on the website about it.

I hope these help a bit.

 

[disfanforlife]

My daughter has a similar situation with her school. She went and talked to her adviser and even the dean of her department. They said that they do not recognize any of the Disney classes even for electives. She could either withdraw from school for a the semester or take classes online through her college while at Disney. They did not give an attitude though and were fairly supportive in encouraging her to go and telling her that it would not be a problem to be re admitted in the fall, but it was a formality and how they handle it. Fortunately after much research she found a 1 credit class that is similar to a work study. She works 400 hours and then writes a paper on her experience. This is a perfect fit while at Disney and she will be signing up for the class for spring. Hopefully your daughter can find something similar if she goes. I wish her the best in the whole process!

 

[::Snow_White::]

My school was the same and I battled to get answers for 6 months prior. They did not accept any credit for doing the program and taking anything less than full time would rid me of almost all of my financial aid.

I ended up going and taking 4 online classes including a graduate course (by accident, how lucky). It's hard and I hated it, but it's doable. I got up everyday at 6 and spent a few hours each week on my work. Disney also offers something in their guide that if you send them an email with a picture of the list of your classes they will let you choose a day of the week where you have about 4 hours off to do your classes. I had Tuesdays 8-12 off, which meant they could never schedule me for that time. Pick 4 easy classes if you don't want to withdraw from the school and it shouldn't be too bad. It didn't make me hate my time there it was just a little roadbump. Good time management skills are all you need.

 

[wilkeliza]

A lot of CPs go through this. My school offered only an elective credit for it and even though it was a liberal arts school it functioned similarly to a conservatory where classes were only offered once every 2 to 4 years depending on your major. For that reason we were encouraged to either wait until our major studies were over or until we graduated.

Now I did have a friend studying pre-law on the program who was taking online course. She still had lots of fun and got good grades. You work a lot but you always get at least one full day off.

I took a Disney class and that took 5 hours out of one of my off days. I imagine you could do a few online courses in that amount of time.

 

[misssullyinc]

My school is also not accepting credit. My counselor was like "Well what's the program?" I explained. "Oh well...not sure if they'd accept it." Can you find out? "Uh, I guess." Eventually he told me to take online courses, which I figured I'd have to do. Have your DD look into classes she can take through them and if they don't offer any, have her ask which online schools they take credit from and she can take those will she's down there to get credit for the semester.

 

[dawgfan]

My daughter has the same problem, though I told her to see the advisor again and pose the question a bit differently. She has asked before about the Disney College Program classes that are offered. I told her to see if the internship/program itself....the fact that she is there working would count as an internship credit hour class. She has been told to take 10 hours on line and she is planning to do that at this point. If they would at least accept the work down there itself as an internship where 5 hours could be gained, it would then allow her to take one on line class reducing the burden. All colleges have internship credits. They work essentially like what my daughter will be doing as most interns get to see how an agency or business operation works from the inside, but usually at the lowest possible level with them completing many menial tasks alongside a person with the organization who observes their work. In truth, the student is not allowed to do high level function stuff and only gets to do things that the day to day staff do not want to do while observing the high level functions of the organization when and where possible. Same as the DCP really. I just had an intern in my office. She came to "work" two to three days a week and took college classes the other days. I am in Law Enforcement so she was not allowed to do a great deal of things. She was able to observe some things and a good deal of stuff we simply had to describe or tell her about. She kept a journal and wrote a paper on her experience to get credit. I do not see why the DCP cannot be the same here. Sadly I have learned that college is all about money and anything that pulls money away from the school is shunned. That is perhaps why the classes at DCP "dont count". They do not want them to.

 

[keypooh90]

I took two courses online for my first program as well as got internship credit and took a Disney course. It all worked out fine and I did well in my coursework while balancing time for work and fun!

 

[reebs2]

Thanks for the info everyone!