Tiger Weekly - Serving Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

La. standardizes college credits

By Colleen McKinney

Students who attend community colleges in Louisiana might find it easier to transfer to public universities beginning this fall, according to the Louisiana Legislature. Earlier this month, the Joint Education Committee announced a new system that would standardize community college credits in a process called articulation, which allows for easier transfers into four-year universities.

Based on the "perfect 60" model in California, where 60 hours are taken at a community college and the last 60 are taken at a university, the committee says that students will be guaranteed admittance into a public university in the state, as long as they earn an associate's degree and earn a "C" or higher in every class. The idea is that community college students will take a mix of general education classes, humanities and electives at a community college and then will focus on their major classes at the university.

James Bennett, English professor, thinks that this system will promote higher education for community college students who might not have considered it before. "I think that any system that encourages students to further their education should be valued," Bennett said. "Obviously, there will be issues with students not being fully prepared, but those issues will be pretty obvious from early on. As long as they have the credentials, four-year universities shouldn't set up road blocks for these students; they should be doing just the opposite."

Some of his colleagues don't share the same sentiment, though. Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope has been quoted in multiple sources that he doesn't believe this transfer can be as smooth as the Legislature hopes it to be, since not all of the courses are up to the same standards.

According to a Public Affairs e-mail sent on January 8, LSU has experienced $43 million in cuts in the past year, in accordance with the $84 million "reduction in funds for higher education" dictated by the Governor's office. The e-mail states that these monies are constituted by "layoffs, position eliminations and the altering of campus services."

Still, some think the question that should be raised now is not whether community college students should or shouldn't be allowed to transfer under this new process. One of the foundations of higher education is the promotion of higher education for all interested residents. But how are Louisiana universities, especially LSU, supposed to accommodate this change when their value and status is being heavily threatened?

If the state is taking cues from California, consider this. According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey estimates, administered by the U.S. Census Bureau, 29.4 percent of California residents over the age of 25 have Bachelor's degrees. Louisiana comes in with 20.4 percent. Governor Schwarzenegger has restored $371 million to the University of California's university system by allocating more money to the university system than the state's prison system. California still continues to boasts one of the nation's highest ranked public university systems. UC Berkeley and UCLA are two of only three public universities ranked in the top 25 of the U.S. News and World Report's Best Colleges 2010.

Until Louisiana's budget focuses on the universities, it's hard for many to see how adding another burden to the already strained systems will help students succeed, community college and four-year alike.

Originally Published: February 24, 2010

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