ACC Wants to Drop the Six-Drop Rule

ACC administration is asking state representatives to back legislation that would remove community colleges from the six drop rule.

“We feel that our students at community college are not just students who pay their full tuition, take a full load and then all the other things they do in their life is study,” says Linda Young, Special Assistant to the President for External Affairs at ACC. “They are people who work, some of them work two jobs, some of them come part time, some of them take a full load and work full time.”

Students at ACC many times have responsibilities outside of the classroom, like family obligations and jobs, and there will be times when they have to drop a class to take care of those responsibilities, says Young.

The current policy states that students may only drop six courses throughout their entire undergraduate career. There are some exceptions to the policy. For example if there is a death in the family or there is a change in work schedule, a student can drop a course without it counting against them if they provide the proper documentation.

“The key is for students to be successful in their courses and that is what we really concentrate on,” says Dr. Kathleen Christensen VP of Student Support and Success Systems. She feels the six drop rule is unnecessary because ACC already monitors the course completion rate of all credit students and has a policy in place for dealing with students who drop too many courses.

Representative Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, has submitted a bill, HB 3518, that would free community colleges from the burden of the six drop rule.

“I had an uncomfortable feeling,” says Alonzo of the six drop rule when it was first made part of Texas Education policy. So when ACC’s office of External Affairs asked if he could write a bill dealing with the issue, Alonzo gladly complied.

“For junior college folks it’s kind of a different situation,” says Alonzo. “I think we need to look at helping students out.”

The bill is in the House Higher Education committee and Alonzo thinks it has a chance at being passed but encourages students who have a strong opinion on the six drop rule to email him and let him know how they feel.

“It is important if there are students who feel very strongly about it to let me know,” says Alonzo. “I think its right and that’s why I introduced the legislation but the more support that you have for it the better.”