Excess Units: What Are the Issues?

1. Don Gauthier - LA Valley College Richard Mahon - Riverside City College David Morse - Long Beach City College Paul Setziol – De Anza College Excess Units:What Are the Issues? ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

2. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? Two resolutions from Spring 2010 look at the question of “excess units” through different lenses, perhaps even to contradict one another: students need to complete their educational goals while enrollment continued beyond that point can deprive other students from access to classes and services they need. This breakout session will focus on different types and degrees of what have been called “excess units.” Some think that any units not used to satisfy requirements are “excess” while others think none are bad. The hope is to find common ground for future action. ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

3. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? • 13.02 S10 Understanding Student Accumulation of “Excess Units” • Whereas, Both the California Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Chancellor for California Community Colleges have lamented the “excess units” that the state pays for as students work to earn a bachelor’s degree (e.g., CCCCO Press Release, January 29, 2010), yet have offered no research-based evidence for why a student might accrue “excess units”; and • Whereas, The many possible explanations for “excess units” are complex and ever-changing, including but not limited to students engaging in appropriate and necessary educational exploration, changing majors, making misguided course selections, and finding themselves unable to obtain a seat in a necessary course while still needing units for financial aid, insurance, or some other benefit requiring enrollment in a minimum number of units; • Resolved, That [we] work with other community college constituencies to research and develop an understanding of the causes of student accumulation of “excess units” for the determination of ways that such unit accumulation can be appropriately minimized. ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

4. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? • 13.06 S10 Benefits of Student Accumulation of “Excess Units” • Whereas, Various parties statewide, including the California [LAO] and the Chancellor for [CCC] have voiced concern that students accrue “excess units” beyond those they truly need for degree or certificate completion or for transfer … thus placing a financial burden on California taxpayers… • Whereas, Many students enter community colleges without clear predetermined career paths or educational goals and should not be denied the opportunity to explore a variety of potential interests and possible career paths … •  Whereas, While in certain cases students may accrue “large numbers” of units beyond the requirements for their educational goals for invalid reasons, in many cases students exceed requirements due to necessity, such as when fulfilling enrollment obligations for financial aid, insurance, or other benefits requiring enrollment in a minimum number of units, or for useful and valid educational reasons, such as exploration regarding career or educational goals, diversifying marketability, retaining required currency, fulfilling differing transfer requirements for multiple institutions, a change of major, or a need for basic skills instruction or other non-transferable units that add to the students’ overall unit count; and •  Whereas, Condemnation of high unit counts and attempts to eliminate all accrual of “excess units” without due consideration and acknowledgment of the possibility that “excess units” may serve various legitimate educational purposes does a disservice to students, whether those who are just beginning their academic or professional careers or those who are already educated and seeking retraining; •  Resolved, That [we] affirm that high unit counts beyond direct necessity for degree or certificate completion or for transfer are not inherently negative and urge all statewide constituencies to acknowledge the benefits that accrual of such units may in many cases render when considering limitations on accumulation of units. ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

5. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? “California Community Colleges Chancellor Delivers Address on the Need to Improve National Transfer Rates to Universities” Jack Scott press release, January 29, 2010 “When courses do not transfer from a community college to a four-year institution, students lose valuable time and taxpayers waste a lot of money,” said Chancellor Jack Scott. “Improving how colleges and universities prepare students for transfer is a cost effective strategy for increasing graduation rates. My advice to cash strapped states is to invest a small amount of resources into developing common transfer agreements. Once transfer between systems becomes easy for students to understand, two and four-year colleges will recoup the economic benefits of running more streamlined institutions. In turn, these systems will successfully serve even more consumers. A recent study by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office indicated that in the 2007/08 academic year, taxpayers spent about $28 million on excess units taken by students to achieve a bachelor’s degree. In general, community college students transferring to a California State University graduated with an average of 162 units when the minimum required is 120.” http://www.cccco.edu/Portals/4/News/press_releases/2010/Jack%20Scott%20Addresses%20Association%20for%20the%20Study%20of%20Transfer%20Students%20in%20Dallas%20FINAL%20(1-29-10).pdf ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

6. Excess Units:What’s the Problem? Summarized Findings of the Study of CSU Graduates Who Transferred from a California Community College to the California State University The study evaluated transcripts of 1,952 students who transferred from California Community Colleges and graduated from CSU in spring 1999. The samples were drawn to be statistically representative of CSU enrollment. 1. California Community College (CCC) transfer students complete an average of 141 semester units for the baccalaureate degree. This compares favorably with students who begin freshman year study at the CSU and graduate with an average of 142 units. 2. The average number of total transferable and non-transferable CCC units completed prior to transfer to CSU is 81.5 semester units. 3. The average number of non-transferable, non-baccalaureate CCC units (e.g. remedial or vocational courses) is 8.8 semester units or approximately 3 courses. ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

7. Excess Units:What’s the Problem? …continued 4. The average number of transferable CCC units completed in excess of 70 (semester) units allowed by Title 5 is 6.9 semester units, or approximately 2 courses. 5. The average number of CCC units transferred to CSU is 65.4 semester units. 6. More than one third (39%) of the students who transfer to CSU attended more than one CCC prior to transfer, and some students also attend four-year colleges. 7. Half of the CCC students transferred with general education fully certified under either the IGETC program or the CSU GE-Breadth program. • Slightly more than one third (39%) of the students in the study completed an associate degree or technical certificate prior to transfer to the CSU. • The average number of units that do not apply to requirements in an upper division transfer student’s degree at the time of graduation is 9.9 semester units, or approximately 3 courses. Source: http://rhet.csustan.edu/aa/docs/TranscriptStudy.pdf ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

8. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

9. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

10. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? “Here are statistics on total units earned from the most recent class of CSU graduates with California community college origins:Average: 142 semester unitsMedian: 136 semester unitsThe 25th and 75th percentiles were 126 semesters units and 151 semester units.  So on the low side, one quarter of the former CCC students graduated with less than 126 semester units; and on the high side, one quarter graduated with more than 151 semester units.The 2009-10 graduates represented 39,136 former CCC transfers, 36,786 students entered as upper division transfers.  I generated all the statistics from our centralized database. ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

11. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? The  transcript script summary you attached refers to a study based on a random sample of CSU students that attained bachelor’s degrees and total units earned was the object of analysis.  The sample was representative of CSU graduates across the system.  I believe the press release refers to a CCCCO summary of CSU reports found in the public domain.  I was not directly involved with the original studies on excess units, but my recollection is that those studies focused on students still enrolled at the CSU that already had attempted more than 120 semester units.  Thus the two studies you cite yield different results because they focused on different populations and different metrics. “ Philip Garcia Senior Director of Analytic Studies CSU Office of the Chancellor562.951.4764 (Office) 562.951.4837 (Fax) • (email 10 November 2010) ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

12. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? • Some non-issues (or so we think): • basic skills courses (since they shouldn’t appear in baccalaureate count totals) • transferable community college courses beyond 70 semester units—prohibited by law from transferring, though course/”subject” credit may transfer • how much attention is focused on native (non-transfer) UC/CSU students who graduate with “excess units”? • Is the “problem” caused by students taking excess classes at CCCs or being required to re-take classes at CSU or by CSU denial of subject matter transfer? ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

13. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? • Are these problematic? • Do students understand what is meant by “transfer”? (as elective, GE, or major credit?) • Misdirection by college personnel; misdirection by family, friends, or acquaintances • Courses said to be transferrable which do not end up transferring (or transfer partially) because of transfer choices • Taking more than 30 units of Basic Skills (but basic skills courses are not transferable)Failing math or other requirement repeatedly (classes not passed don’t show up as credit)Enrolling in courses but not performing in them and not dropping them in a timely fashion if at all (though classes not passed do not earn credit) • Taking a lower level math course after taking a higher level one • “Professional students”: how large a problem is this? ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

14. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? • Are these problematic? • Changing majors; changing majors more often than at four year schools; taking a “long time” to choose a major (how long is a long time?); declaring a high unit major “late” • Taking courses in order to qualify for financial aid, insurance, or other intrinsic goods • Local GE/graduation requirements • BA holders undertaking coursework for a new educational/career goal • Courses taken in excess of the minimum number of units required for certificate, degree, or transfer as per student’s educational goal • Re-entry students’ need to retake dated classes (perhaps using “recency” policies) ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim

15. Excess Units:What Are the Issues? Where do we go now? a Rostrum article… new resolutions? more research? ASCCC Fall 2010 Plenary - Anaheim