Dear Fordham Graduate School of Social Service Deans & Faculty,

We are writing this letter to urge you to reduce the required field hours for Fordham MSW students from 950 hours to 900. Reducing the number of unpaid hours would have a profoundly positive impact on our educational experience. The current structure of unpaid field hours is:

-contrary to the principles laid out in the NASW code of ethics;
-negatively impacts a student's mental health and therefore their ability to learn;
-increases debt in a low-wage profession; and,
-serves as a barrier (especially for people from marginalized backgrounds) to enter this profession, a profession already facing a massive shortage of workers.

We understand that these problems did not start with Fordham, yet Fordham does have the power to help improve the lives of students here and now. The CSWE requires all social work students to complete 900 hours of field placement to earn their degree. Fordham’s requirement is 950 hours — 50 hours above what is needed.

While a 50-hour reduction may not sound like much, it would make a huge difference in the life of students. For our specialist year, many students put in three days of unpaid labor per week as opposed to two. A reduction to 900 hours can grant more students an extra day per week, which would help support their mental, emotional, and financial well-being. Additionally, the reduction of hours would be more productive for students to focus on academic studies.

Fordham’s GSS’ mission is to educate students “to promote human rights and social justice.” We take this commitment to human rights and social justice seriously and urge the administration to recognize that social work education should be accessible to all applicants and current students. Aligning hours with the requirements would improve accessibility for all of us, including, but not limited to low-income students, disabled students, and students of color who disproportionately need to work while enrolled in school.

Furthermore, research shows that hour requirements have no basis in empirical evidence. There has been no research done on the optimal number of hours to develop competency in the field, meaning that both the 900 and 950 hour requirements are arbitrarily set without evidence of their role in learning outcomes (Raskin, 2008; Petra et. al, 2020).

Within the last year, other New York schools have reduced their hour requirements. Last May, NYU’s Dean announced that NYU Silver would reduce their required hours from 1200 hours to 900, and Hunter’s Dean recently announced the same. Fordham has demonstrated leadership in the past among NYC MSW programs by announcing the reduction to 950 years ago, but now is falling behind. We, the undersigned, ask that Fordham take meaningful action in line with social work values and reduce our required hours to the CSWE minimum of 900. Aligning hours is a critical and immediate step the administration can take in addressing student needs. If you have any questions, you can reach out to p4pfordham@gmail.com.

Best,

Fordham GSS Student Body