As approved by the University Faculty Council, the policy that governs the way students take classes outside of UMass will be changed as of June 1, 2005. The policy was announced to the university community in the Spring 2005 edition of The Bostonian, the Division of Enrollment Management newsletter. Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Kathleen Teehan, who submitted the proposal for the adjustment, says there are three changes to the prior policy.
First, the total number of credits allowed to transfer from a two-year college will be reduced from 90 to 70. The second change is once a student is matriculated at UMass Boston, they can only transfer credits from a two-year college with special permission, otherwise all transfer credits must be from an accredited four-year institution. The final change is that individual departments are now encouraged to establish stricter limits for transfer credits after a student has matriculated at UMass Boston.
The reasoning behind the change in two-year transfer credits is to limit the amount of lower level classes that get transferred into UMB. Teehan explains, “Mostly community college courses are lower level; they’re freshman sophomore level.”
While only allowing 70 credits from two-year colleges, UMass students will still be permitted to bring in up to 90 credits, as long as 20 or more of those credits come from a four year accredited institution such as Salem State or Boston University.
The policy change, maintaining that once a student is in the UMass system he or she can no longer transfer in credits from a two year institution, is viewed by administration as a positive move for the university in catching up with not only its sister universities (Amherst, Lowell, and Dartmouth have similar policies) but with other Boston schools such as Suffolk and Northeastern.
Teehan’s proposal states that, “Eliminating the option of taking courses at two year institutions once a student has matriculated into a degree program at UMass Boston will decrease the number of courses students take off campus for reasons of cost and level of difficulty.”
The proposal was approved last fall by the faculty council. Faculty council is made up of 33 members representing all four of the university’s colleges. The committee of Academic Affairs is the body of the council that read and made changes to the proposal.
“We’re a university, it takes 120 credits to graduate so this is allowing you to take more than half of your credits,” says faculty council chair and member of the Biology department, Dr. William Hagar. Hagar argues that transferring a large number of credits decreases the scope of students’ educations at UMass Boston. He continues that in accumulating more credits on the university campus, degrees earned from the university will be that much more valid.
The proposal states, “Limiting the credits that students can transfer toward degree major requirements once matriculated will enhance the integrity of the UMass Boston diploma.”
When asked if this move might counteract the university’s urban mission, Teehan said, ” Our faculty believes that what they deliver in the classroom is part of the UMass Boston experience and they want students to have that as much as possible.”
Teehan says that the largest portion of the student body that will feel the effects of this new policy are the 300 undergraduates who enroll in summer courses at community colleges throughout the area. She continues that those students will retain the opportunity to enroll in courses at institutions other than UMass Boston. However, those class requirements must be fulfilled at four-year colleges such as UMass Dartmouth, Bridgewater State College, and Salem State College.