RPC Reg Spotlight October 4, 2011

 

UPDATE:

 

The following legislation is scheduled to be voted upon by the House of Representatives the week of February 27, 2012:

 

  • ·       H.R. 2117 – Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act

 

Regulatory Action in the Spotlight:

 

Definition of an academic “credit hour”

 

 

Adverse Effects:

 

  • Federal intervention into historically state and academic issues.
  • Stifles innovative teaching practices.

 

 

Response of the Obama Administration:

 

In October 2010, the U.S. Department of Education released a package of regulations (75 Fed. Reg. 66832) to purportedly improve the integrity of student financial aid programs.  One of these so-called “program integrity regulations” – governing the definition of credit hours – injects the federal government into issues that are traditionally academic or state affairs.   Under the regulation, an institution of higher education has only two ways to ensure that its students are enrolled in classes and earning the required credit hours.  The first is based off of the “Carnegie Unit,” the traditionally accepted definition for one credit hour.  Under this metric, one credit hour equals one hour of lecture and two hours of out of class work for approximately 15 weeks for one semester or trimester or for 10 to 12 weeks for one quarter.  Under the second option, an institution must demonstrate an equivalent amount of work as required by the first option for other academic activities, such as laboratory work, internships, and practice, as established by the institution.  The regulations are solely based on the number of hours a student is in class or may be studying outside of class, but it does not measure how much the student is learning. 

 

The rule requires accrediting agencies, as part of their reviews, to evaluate the reliability and accuracy of the institution’s assignment of credit hours.  Accreditors must report to the Department of Education any systematic noncompliance by institutions regarding criteria for assigning credit hours, which could jeopardize an institution’s eligibility for federal funding and student aid.

 

 

Impact on the United States:

 

Historically, the Department of Education has relied on accrediting agencies to oversee how an institution defines a credit hour and assigns a specific number of credit hours to each course.  The new regulation creates a federal definition of a credit hour, undermining the traditional role of institutions of higher education in order to impose a set of new requirements that could prove to be very harmful.  Since the federal definition of credit hour is based strictly on the number of hours a student is in class or may be studying outside of class, it does not measure how much the student is learning.  The rigidity of this regulation will potentially stifle innovative teaching practices being developed by colleges and universities around the country, including accelerated learning programs designed for adult learners, hybrid-format classes, and distance learning.

 

“A restrictive definition of 'credit hour' based on seat time alone would turn back the clock and discourage the kind of innovation that enables colleges and universities to serve these students,” said Blair Dowden,  president of Huntington University and a board member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities at a March 2011 congressional hearing. “It is one thing to measure how much time a student spends in a classroom; it is quite another to measure how much the student learned.”

 

 

In Closing:

 

Having the federal government defining “credit hour” puts it squarely in the middle of the academic decision-making process.  Imposing the rigidity of federal regulation on a dynamic process will unnecessarily restrict colleges and universities in their academic programming, and result in fewer choices for students.  For-profit colleges could be especially impacted as they commonly arrange their schedules to allow for a manageable workload for working, adult students.  All of this is coming ata time when the President is calling for an increase in college graduation rates.

 

 

Relevant Legislation:

 

Rep. Virginia Foxx introduced H.R. 2117, the Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act.  The bill will repeal the creation of a federal definition of a "credit hour" and prohibit the Department of Education from defining "credit hour" in the future.  The bill was reported out of the Education and the Workforce Committee on July 22, 2011.