Indiana legislation all faculty should understand

by Steven B. Combs, Ph.D.

On January 15th, 2013, our Regional Board of Trustees met. I am on the agenda to discuss the changes that will occur within the state with regard to transfer of general education credits among the public institutions. As I read the two pieces of legislation, House Enrolled Act No. 1220 (Credit Creep) and Senate Enrolled Act No. 182 (Common Course Numbering within the Core Transfer Library), the thought struck me that all Indiana higher education faculty (and parents for that matter) should be aware of these initiatives and understand their implications.

The legislation is not difficult to read; however, I need to provide an Executive Summary for the board, so I thought I may as well share my outline. My bullets are more concise and a bit more “bottom line up front.”

Transfer Changes Board Report

Two important pieces of legislation:

1. House Enrolled Act No. 1220 (Credit Creep)
2. Senate Enrolled Act No. 182 (Common Course Numbering within the Core Transfer Library)

Details:

1. HEA 1220:
   • Each public institution will review all programs and reduce associate degrees to 60 credit hours and baccalaureate degree to 120 credit hours
   • If institutions cannot meet these requirements, they must document and justify the reason (accreditation, certification, etc) in a proposal to the commission
   • No deadline specified in the legislation
2. SEA 182:
   • Create and maintain a common course numbering system for the core transfer library (CTL) of general education competencies
   • Each public institution will map their unique CTL course numbers to a new common course numbering system
   • Not later than December 1st, 2012, the state institutions, in conjunction with the Higher Learning Commission, will provide a report on statewide transfer of the general education core
   • The core will be competency based and at least 30 credit hours
   • Institutions will work together to create the Transfer General Education Core (TGEC) via the State Transfer and Articulation Committee (STAC)
   • Further, the institutions will establish a way to document completion of the competencies on student transcripts – in the case of Ivy Tech Community College, it will be the Technical Certification (TC) in General Studies
   • After May 15th, 2013 a student who completes the TGEC will not be required by another state institution to complete additional courses
   • Students who do not complete the TGEC prior to transfer, will complete the remainder of the requirements at the new institution
   • Students who receive an associate of art or associate of science degree meet the minimum required 30 hours

Sources:

1. House Enrolled Act No. 1220
2. Senate Enrolled Act No. 182
3. TransferIN.net