The increasing amount of high school students who count on online courses to boost their GPAs and transcripts will face more scrutiny than ever before, as UC officials recently announced a new policy regulating classes taken online.

Since 2003, enrollment in online classes has quadrupled, especially among high school students, according to the Sacramento Bee. Due to the increasing reality of the Internet becoming a virtual educational environment, the UC system decided to legitimize online courses with a standard set of rules, according to UC Office of the President Director of Undergraduate Admissions Susan A. Wilbur.

“Until recently, UC did not have a policy for the acceptance of online courses,” Wilbur stated in an e-mail. “[But] when the university began to see more students presenting online courses [on their transcripts], UC put in place a limited policy that was intended as a stopgap until the faculty could establish a more comprehensive policy.”

The policy establishes criteria that all Web sites offering online classes must adhere to in order to obtain UC approval.

For example, the provider must be accredited by one of the regional accrediting commissions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

The policy also requires online course providers to develop and deliver course curricula designed and/or reviewed by content experts and teachers to verify the authenticity of student work.

Students who take online classes are normally seeking to fulfill the University of California’s A-G subject requirements. These requirements include social science, English and math, and are the most basic requirements for entry into the UC system.

However, the university’s laboratory science and visual and performing arts requirements cannot be fulfilled online.

The university will continue to stress the importance of realistic elements in these virtual classrooms, like contact with a teacher and examination integrity, Wilbur stated.

The actual policy will consider other providers of online classes, and will take one to two years to be fully implemented. It will affect students who take online courses and are applying for UC admission for the 2008-09 academic year.

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Admissions and Registration Mae W. Brown said that most students have nothing to worry about.

“The online course limitation will not affect admission to UCSD unless the student has not fulfilled the A-G subject requirements,” Brown stated in an e-mail. “Students will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.”

The policy will not affect transfer students who have finished credits online through a community college, Wilbur stated, since community colleges already have a well-defined process for approving courses.

When the new policy has been adopted and implemented, applicants will be able to check the UC Web site for acceptable online courses.

“Students will benefit from this policy because they can be assured that they are taking quality courses,” Wilbur stated.