Brief Description: Allowing public technical colleges to offer associate transfer degrees.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Higher Education (originally sponsored by Senators McAuliffe, Shin, Pflug, Berkey, Fairley and Tom).

Hearing Date: 2/21/08

Staff: Andi Smith (786-7304).

Background:

There are 34 community and technical colleges in the state including 29 community colleges and 5 technical colleges. Currently, students that graduate from a technical college can transfer their workforce courses into specific Bachelor's of applied science programs that are specifically designed to match up with the focus in the workforce degree. Otherwise, the technical coursework does not generally transfer.

Direct Transfer Agreement: The Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) is responsible for establishing a statewide transfer of credit policy and agreement, in cooperation with the public institutions of higher education and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). Together, these entities have created the Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA). Any student who completes an approved DTA Associate degree at a community college is considered to have satisfied the lower division general education requirements at a public four-year institution. These students are generally admitted as juniors when they transfer.

Transfer Associate Degrees: In the late 1990s, analysis of students' credit accumulation and graduation patterns revealed that transfer students in science, math, and other highly structured majors did not graduate as efficiently as non-transfer students. When they arrived at a four-year institution, these students needed to take additional lower division course requirements to qualify for their major.

To address this problem, the Council of Presidents, the HECB, and the SBCTC convened a workgroup to develop a statewide Associate of Science Transfer Degree (AS-T), which was adopted in 2000. Under the AS-T, students take more math and science prerequisites while at the community college, with the objective of transferring directly into a major once they reach the four-year institution.

More recently, the HECB asked that the Joint Access Oversight Group develop Major Related Programs (MRPs). An MRP is based on the DTA or AS-T but specifies the prerequisite coursework that will provide the best preparation for entry into certain competitive majors. In 2005, the workgroups completed four MRPs: nursing, elementary education, pre-engineering, and engineering technology. In 2007, the group completed additional programs in secondary education, earth and space science, and construction management.

Summary of Bill:

In addition to offering technical degrees, technical colleges are allowed to offer transfer degrees that prepare students for professional Bachelor's degrees. Professional degrees, in this context, are those that prepare students for a specific field or occupation including engineering, engineering technology, pre-nursing, business, construction management, and teacher preparation for secondary education in science, technology and math areas.

The SBCTC adopts rules creating consistency between community and technical colleges offering Associate degrees that prepare students for these degrees. The SBCTC may address issues related to tuition and fee rates, tuition waivers, enrollment counting including the use of credits instead of clock hours, and degree granting authority.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.