Last week, Alex Pham received an email notifying her that because she had not fulfilled the university’s hepatitis B shot requirement, her classes could be dropped.
The first-year Arabic student said she immediately called to check the records with her mom. She said she was confused by the email because she thought she had taken care of the requirement, and she was afraid of having her classes dropped.
“I got those vaccines when I was very young; I honestly don’t remember getting them,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if it was something I had to get now or before.”
At that point, she realized she had not completed the form that confirmed she had her shot when enrolling at the university. By filling out a questionnaire on the Ashe website, Pham resolved the issue.
“I got it taken care of the minute I got the email,” she said. “It was done right away.”
Pham was among 4,200 students who received the email from the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center. The emails were sent out to any student who showed up in the registrar system as non-compliant with the hepatitis B requirement, said John Bollard, chief of administrative services for the Ashe Center.
This is the first time the Ashe Center has sent out emails letting students know they had not completed the requirement. Previously, the registrar’s office would place a hold on any student who was found to be non-compliant with the requirement after the two-quarter grace period, without necessarily notifying them beforehand, Bollard said.
“We are being proactive, because in the past students have just come in (about the hold on student accounts),” he said. “We are trying to do a service to students this year.”
It is state law and a university condition of enrollment that students provide proof of completion of the hepatitis B shot prior to starting at UCLA, Bollard said.
Many students, however, forget to formally state they have fulfilled the requirement when they enroll, he said. The university gives students two quarters to complete the requirement before putting a hold on their accounts.
“It’s very clear in registration materials that this is one of the main requisites, but in the hassle of starting up with classes, a number of students forget,” Bollard said. “It’s just a question of it falling through the cracks.”
When she got the email, Nicole Chuhak, a first-year civil engineering student, said she panicked. Her classes were full, and she said she had worked hard to get into them, including personally talking to professors. She said she could not afford to have her classes dropped after all that.
But after checking records — and finding out she got her shot in 1993 — she filled out a questionnaire to ensure her classes would not get dropped.
To prevent having a hold placed on their account, students have been directed to a questionnaire on the Ashe center website, where they have to answer a few questions about how they completed the shot requirement.
“(The questionnaire) was pretty easy to fill out,” Chuhak said. “You check that you had (the shot) and give them the information about where you got it.”
The majority of students who received the email were first-years, but older students who were not listed as compliant with the requirement were notified, too, Bollard said.
“If there is some mark on their record or some lack of compliance, the person could get into trouble when they graduate,” he said. “We wanted to contact any student who was showing up as non-compliant.”
Bollard said he is not aware of any students who have had courses dropped this quarter because of the requirement.
And for those students who did receive the email, Bollard said there is no set date for when courses will be dropped if the requirement is not completed.
“It’s a very easy process,” he said. “The sooner, the better (to complete it) to prevent and hold or block on registration.”