Castro bill requires higher education to post transfer information on websites

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Colleges and universities would have to be extra forthcoming about their scholar transfer necessities underneath a brand new measure put earlier than Congress on Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro.

The aim, Castro says, is to assist college students wishing to transfer colleges from shedding faculty credit score they’ve already earned.

Castro’s measure, the Transparency for Transfer Students Act, would require two- and four-year colleges to post monetary support information and transfer deadlines on their websites, in addition to a listing of all the faculties from which a scholar’s credit are assured to be accepted.

The federal Higher Education Act of 1965 says colleges shall disclose their credit-transfer insurance policies, together with the checklist of establishments with which they’ve transfer agreements, also referred to as articulation agreements. But the present regulation fails to require that this information be posted on a university or college web site.

“Community college is an affordable, accessible way for many students to start their education — but at too many schools, complicated transfer policies make it harder for transfer students to earn a four-year degree,” Castro mentioned in an announcement. “The Transparency for Transfer Students Act will provide students with better information on college articulation agreements, preventing credit loss and helping students save valuable time and money as they pursue their degrees.”

Nationally, solely 30% of group faculty college students transfer to four-year universities to proceed their research, and on common, these college students lose 40% of their credit, forcing them to spend extra money and time to repeat programs. This additionally will increase the possibility that college students may not full their levels.

In Texas, 67% of scholars who transferred from group faculty throughout junior 12 months ended up finishing their bachelor’s levels, in contrast with 86% of their classmates who began at a four-year college and remained there, according to a 2021 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board report. That identical report additionally discovered it took transfer college students on common 7.5 years to full their bachelor’s levels, whereas college students who began at a college and completed took 5.3 years to full their bachelor’s levels.

According to another 2021 state report, 25% of transfer college students enrolled in fall 2020 had at the least one course rejected by the general public four-year college to which they transferred. Common causes embrace that the course was not throughout the diploma necessities or the coed didn’t earn a excessive sufficient grade.

Castro’s bill would additionally amend the Higher Education Act to specify that colleges should current this information on-line in an “easy to find” and “readable” method.

“The formal documents that spell out which credits earned at one institution will convey in another often contain legal jargon to hold partners accountable instead of making it easy for students to understand,” Alexis Torres, press secretary for Castro, mentioned in an e mail. “Additionally, because schools don’t have to specifically post this information on their website, students may have to spend additional time searching for this information.”

For years, federal officers have really helpful such a requirement. A 2017 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office prompt that the U.S. Department of Education require colleges to present information about articulation agreements and transfer sources on-line. According to the report, about 68% of public colleges nationally checklist that information on their websites. The report estimates that about 54% of personal nonprofit universities and 47% of for-profit colleges checklist such information on their websites.

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, all Texas faculties and universities have pages on their websites devoted to transfer college students, however the degree of information varies by faculty. According to the board’s 2021 report, 29 out of 37 public universities within the state checklist on-line necessities for what number of credit a scholar should take at that college to graduate. Only 28 universities checklist on-line their limits for what number of transfer credit they settle for.

Community faculty leaders in Texas say extra information is at all times higher.

“Time is the enemy of degree completion for many students,” Mike Flores, chancellor of the Alamo Colleges District in San Antonio, mentioned in an announcement. “Our approach at the Alamo Colleges to use comprehensive Transfer Advising Guides (TAGs) coupled with the connection to a certified academic advisor not only saves our students time, but allows them to be job-ready when they graduate from one of the Alamo Colleges or to transfer to a university.”

In 2019, the state handed a regulation to assist easy out the transfer course of between two- and four-year colleges. Part of that regulation requires colleges to report to the state which credit they don’t settle for from different colleges. Before the regulation’s passage, the state didn’t maintain information on which credit college students lose after they transfer.

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