H.B. 353 Higher Education Credit Transfer Amendments: transcript

The regional experts out of the state of Idaho who has expertise in this. Um, we hired 'em away, um, with the intent of, of providing our students with not just the information, but, uh, the incentive to finish. We, wherever they are, wherever their education journey is, we want 'em to finish here and we want them to, to grow here and, and begin their careers. And hopefully we can get 'em to stay here if we can fix the housing stuff. But, uh, anyway, that's, that's the substance of the bill. I'm happy to answer any questions. Um, you know, we're trying to address duplication and a few other things so that we're not just wasting resources.

Uh, thank you. Uh, Mr. Chairman, I would make a motion we pass out house bill 3 53 with a favorable recommendation.

Thank you. I, I appreciate that motion and, and your patience this morning. Thank you.

To Adjourn. Okay.

Yeah, this one will be, this will be fairly easy in that regard. So, um, very quickly, I don't know how many of you have had adult children yet, but it's kind of terrible. So if they haven't warned you, those of you with littles parenting adult children is very difficult. Um, much more so than anyone ever mentioned. I'm kind of mad at some of you for not warning me. That said, uh, one of the things we got to experience very quickly is our kids transferred around universities, um, uh, within and outside of Yeshi is how difficult it is to transfer credit even for identical, literally identical courses. Um, I happened to, um, have a new daughter-in-law who transferred from, uh, a nearby school in Idaho on the other side of the border, uh, that shares almost everything in common with, uh, Weber State University. She added two years to a degree from transferring from Idaho to Utah. And I thought, man, that seems kind of extreme. And then I started looking into it and I started calling my friends over at Yeshi. And we, uh, we had several meetings where we discussed, uh, why this happens both in and outside of, of the system. And there's not really an easy solution. Um, Yohi is actually already working on a lot of this. And as we had the conversations with, uh, with our new leadership team there, um, I'm heartened to report to you that, um, that they shared the same vision of making us a magnet rather than a repellent for our kids and our surrounding states. And that's really all this bill does. Um, we're not, uh, adding additional staff. We're not doing any of this, but I can't tell you how heartened I was to go through the, what months long process we went through over the interim, uh, to get where we are today. And I'm happy to, to have, um, them, uh, answer any questions. And of course, um, Katie's here to, to speak, uh, for them. I, I suppose. But, um, I just want you to know that as we, we looked at what that needed to be, um, for transfer, the method of, of recognizing valid work with that they've already done, um, that's well underway and we're not gonna be in the same place we were by by the time this is done.

Thank you. Representative Katie Azzie, Utah system of higher education. Um, our board has not had an opportunity to take a formal stance on this bill, but I did wanna echo what Representative Wilcox just shared that he, uh, brought this idea and these concerns to us months ago. We've, uh, been good partners in the discussion. Uh, what the bill really does is it takes, uh, what the Board of Utah Board of Higher Education is already responsible for under statute, which is establishing and maintaining clear pathways for articulation and transfer. Uh, and just reinforces that we should be considering the needs of our out-of-state students. Um, I would say the representative has been really good at understanding the nuance of, as we accept out-of-state credits, we do need to do a case by case analysis to make sure that what the institution taught out-of-state is what will meet our standards and requirements and essential learning outcomes of our courses. Uh, but we always have room for improvement. I wanna recognize the good work that our institutions are doing in articulation and transfer and really, uh, removing any artificial barriers to transfer for our in-state students and our out-of-state students. Uh, but we're always open to improvements and, and recognize the room to improve. And so this is what the, the bill asks us to do. Thank you. Does that conclude your presentation? Yep.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was just, so you just finished saying that you haven't really looked at it yet. This, this bill is telling you to look at it. Is that correct?

Oh, sorry, Noah. We, we do on an institution by institution basis, our institutions evaluate out-of-state transfer on a course by course basis. What this is articulating in law is for the board's existing responsibility to establish name and maintain clear pathways for articulation and transfer. So much of that conversation has been focused on transfer between and among UI institutions. So this really just for future iterations of the board emphasizes that, uh, what we're already committed to, which is also focusing on the out-of-state transfer. Uh, just as much paying, just as much attention as we would to in state To help answer that in practical terms. Like, uh, one of our student athletes that say happens to play basketball at a big Sky school nearby in Idaho when they transfer to a big Sky school here, shouldn't be adding on two years to that degree when everything else matches.

Mr. Chair, can I ask a follow or a follow up? Yes, please. Thank you. So I mean, may, maybe something that would occurs to me to make this easier to administrate is you have some accreditation boards that would be national and would make that easier. Like in my, in my engineering degree, there's the accreditation board of engineering and technology. I, I'm guessing, and you can tell me, it would be easier for an in-state university to evaluate, say, engineering credits coming across from another ABET accredited school. It's that kind of the process you're thinking. Um,

Yeah, but not, Go ahead. Sorry. Yes. No, please. It, it should. That isn't how it's been functioning in real life. Um, that's been part of the discovery of this. And in fact, including in not to trash on anything but including in our own system, um, has not happened the way it really probably should have, even from one of our state schools to another state school. Now that's to improved. The board has recognized that we're down the road on, on that part of it a little bit. And so we're just trying to give 'em just a little bit more authority here.

Uh, I will say accreditation certainly plays a role in how our institutions evaluate courses that out-of-state students take already. Um, but what I, what I would add is the complication comes in, alright, as a student has taken a 10 20 or a 10 30 course. They, we don't have common course numbering across states, but we have it within the UI system. And so it's easier for an in-state student, uh, but certainly we need to look at that nuance of at what level do we award credit and what's the course equivalent within our system and institutions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanna say to all the adult children out there who may be listening, that some of us love you and support this legislation. Thank You.

All right, Mr. Chair. I would make a motion to pass out HB 3 53 higher education credit transfer amendments with a favorable recommendation. That is an order. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, I agree. Uh, thank you, uh, uh, bringing this bill forward. Uh, it's something that's really underestimated. Uh, I remember when I was a student, I did a lot of concurrent enrollment and I had, uh, at credits at what was, uh, Dixie State College at the time, and also at Salt Lake Community College and at Snow College. And I tried to rally up all those documents and get 'em up to the University of Utah. And, um, yeah. And he was, it just such a deficit when it was all calculated and I had to, uh, do summer school to make up for it and just wound up losing money. It's tuition and it was unnecessary. So, I'm glad you're trying to fill in the gaps here because it's, uh, it is gonna help a lot of people, I think. Thank you.

I'll just say, yeah. We've looked at transfer credits, uh, in, as it relates to concurrent enrollment as well as part of these conversations. And, you know, there's an weird expiration thing, uh, particularly with kids who serve, uh, a religious mission. They go home and some of those are gone. So that's part of this as well. Like, that shouldn't happen. We should be able to defer without automatically losing credit that we've earned already.

Uh, thank you. I'll wa

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair? Yes. Make a follow up motion. I didn't hear any opposition to this. I'm, I'm wondering if we would consider making this, uh, a Consent calendar item. Uh, that is an order, uh, sponsor.

That's fine. I, I doubt we'd have much debate on it.

for its consideration. Madam Reading Clerk House Bill 3 53 Higher Education Credit Transfer Amendments by Representative Wilcox.

This bill was heard in Economic Development and Workforce Services with a vote of 8 0 2

Thank Thank you Mr. Speaker representatives. This one, uh, facilitates a transfer of credits for our students who go outta state, uh, for the beginning part of their career. Many of you, and I think I mentioned this in committee, many of us, uh, are getting kind of older now. And so we have kids that have bounced around this, the country a little bit, uh, pursuing their educational journey. Um, one of those things that sometimes our students from Utah in particular struggle with is when they transfer even from neighboring states within the same conference. I'm not using a hypothetical really anymore, but even within the same conference, when they transfer from, say, a school in Idaho to a school in Utah that otherwise has exactly the same qualifications and course materials, what they find is when they transfer, they lose one to two years of their schooling just because they transferred back home. Uh, the idea behind this bill generally is that we want our, uh, state to be, uh, welcoming and, uh, uh, to facilitate the graduation and quick completion of our credits, uh, for higher education rather than a trap where we don't recognize valid work in the effort to make money off of our own kids. So the purpose of the bill is, I think, pretty clear. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

that promote transfer from institutions that are external to our Yui system. So if we had a kid, for example, like cash weight down in Emery County and he was working in an institution that was not in Yui, this bill simply finds a way to say, Hey, let's help cash out. Let's find a way to help him incorporate that pathway into the Utah system of higher education. And that's what the bill does. And I'm open for questions, Questions for the sponsor on a great bill quoting him. I'm quoting him. Uh, back to you.

I don't wanna waive, I I really think that we need to help kids out like cash and make sure that they have an opportunity to find those pathways. So with that, I'd move that this bill be read for a third time.

You, Mr. President Proti at, at 70, can you hear me or do I need to speak louder?

Well, I've got a good bill before us and it deals with coordination for programs that are not in the uc system. And this bill, simply, if you look at line, uh, 93, it encourages us Yui to identify strategies that promote transfer from a non-I system. And that that's what the bill does and it's a, it's a I'm open for questions. Thank you. Uh, discussion of the bill. Hearing none.

Yeah. Thank you Mr. President. Tim, I move this bill be read, I move that this bill pass.