This statement and petition is in response to an email sent from the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Office of the Dean, received Monday, September 27, 2021.  

Starting Fall 2022, the credit requirements for a Master's Degree in Social Work (MSW) at USC will be reduced to 42 credits, an 18 credit decrease from the current requirement of 60 credits.  

When one MSW student contacted Student Services, the emailed response was simply: “Thank you for reaching out to our office. More information about the transition to the 42-credit program and your options will be forthcoming in Spring 2022.”

Another MSW student contacted their student services advisor and while the response was longer, the email was more of a placation than concrete steps forward, with little being communicated in respect to the massive loss being inflicted. The value being lost in accordance with this change is far greater than the meager attempt of their suggested compensation, which was written as “specialization and employment opportunities.”

This change has caused serious anger within the cohorts slated to graduate from Fall 2021 - Fall 2022, as the program would then be almost $36,000 less while looking at the current cost of tuition units alone provided on the MSW@USC website. Not to mention damages to the value of the degree itself, time, energy, emotional distress, and all additional expenses those eighteen credits cost students--seemingly unnecessarily if students were in fact eligible to be credentialed without them.  

The time spent completing these 18 credits, between 6 and 10 months, could have alternatively been spent in the workforce, as the impacted students would have already conferred the MSW degrees and found respective positions. As the median annual MSW salary in California is $73,822, this results in an average loss of anywhere from $36,911 to $61,518.

Students enter in an assumed Sweat Equity Agreement with the University of Southern California.  The students are completing their fundamental contribution.  USC has not protected their students’ equity, hence, breaking their responsibilities of the same implied contract.

An extra 18 credits results in a restrained estimate of $97,518 in loss of educational expenses and revenue for each individual student. With all of the previous statements in mind, current students and recent graduates who attended through the pandemic, are requesting compensation for our grievances equitable to $100,000. This accounts for the base cost of the units, loss of salary at being unable to join the workforce, and the damages this process has cost us.

Students would be willing to accept compensation in multiple forms: tuition reimbursement/towards student loans, as well as future educational opportunities such as credentials, licensure, or a Doctorate in Social Work.

USC’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work has instilled the idea of advocacy and social justice.  If we are to stand against injustice for all, how can we do so without first addressing the injustice against ourselves?

We appreciate your time, empathy, and compassion in this matter.