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.”
Showing posts with label ACC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACC. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
ACC Lobbying for Fair Share of Employee Healthcare Funds
Money for employee healthcare is a key issue ACC administration is talking to state representatives about during the 81st State Legislative session.
Members of the board of trustees, the president of ACC, and the office of External Affairs have all taken the time to call, send letters and talk face to face with central Texas state representatives about the issue of Proportionality.
Under the current state policy institutions of higher education receive funding for employ healthcare that matches or is proportional to the state funds the institution receives. ACC and other community colleges across the state receive much of their funding from local sources and they receive a smaller amount of state funds than larger four-year institutions. Therefore ACC and other community colleges do not receive the same amount of money for employee healthcare that larger four-year institutions do.
“Proportionality is being applied unfairly,” said Linda Young, Special Assistant to the President for External Affairs at ACC. If proportionality is once more included in the budget bill it could cost ACC $2.6 million in the coming two years. The money for employee healthcare has to come from somewhere says Young and that could mean higher tuition or more fees in the future.
In a letter sent to local state representatives signed by Dr. Stephen Kinslow, President of ACC, and Nan McRaven, Chairperson of the ACC Board of Trustees, the administration asks representatives to exclude proportionality from the budget bill and to support bills in the House (HB 2083) and Senate (SB 41) “which would resolve the Proportionality issue.”
“Those bills would say that this formula for figuring how we support benefits for faculty in higher education would not apply to community colleges which don’t get the same amount of funding that the four year (universities) do,” said Young.
“For our students to be successful we have to have top notch educators and we do and we want to continue to attract and retain our faculty and our administrators and professional staff,” said Nan McRaven, Chairperson of the ACC Board of Trustees. For ACC to attract and retain faculty and staff the college needs to be able to offer things like healthcare to its employees. McRaven says the issue of proportionality affects employees, students and the wider ACC community.
“If the state isn’t doing it (providing funds for healthcare) then it falls on our local community and that takes away dollars that we could be spending on our students,” says McRaven.
Members of the board of trustees, the president of ACC, and the office of External Affairs have all taken the time to call, send letters and talk face to face with central Texas state representatives about the issue of Proportionality.
Under the current state policy institutions of higher education receive funding for employ healthcare that matches or is proportional to the state funds the institution receives. ACC and other community colleges across the state receive much of their funding from local sources and they receive a smaller amount of state funds than larger four-year institutions. Therefore ACC and other community colleges do not receive the same amount of money for employee healthcare that larger four-year institutions do.
“Proportionality is being applied unfairly,” said Linda Young, Special Assistant to the President for External Affairs at ACC. If proportionality is once more included in the budget bill it could cost ACC $2.6 million in the coming two years. The money for employee healthcare has to come from somewhere says Young and that could mean higher tuition or more fees in the future.
In a letter sent to local state representatives signed by Dr. Stephen Kinslow, President of ACC, and Nan McRaven, Chairperson of the ACC Board of Trustees, the administration asks representatives to exclude proportionality from the budget bill and to support bills in the House (HB 2083) and Senate (SB 41) “which would resolve the Proportionality issue.”
“Those bills would say that this formula for figuring how we support benefits for faculty in higher education would not apply to community colleges which don’t get the same amount of funding that the four year (universities) do,” said Young.
“For our students to be successful we have to have top notch educators and we do and we want to continue to attract and retain our faculty and our administrators and professional staff,” said Nan McRaven, Chairperson of the ACC Board of Trustees. For ACC to attract and retain faculty and staff the college needs to be able to offer things like healthcare to its employees. McRaven says the issue of proportionality affects employees, students and the wider ACC community.
“If the state isn’t doing it (providing funds for healthcare) then it falls on our local community and that takes away dollars that we could be spending on our students,” says McRaven.
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