Against the law to use unaccredited courses in GPA calculations in Texas?

[sanantone]

I'm sure this law was meant to prevent colleges from using coursework from unaccredited colleges in GPA calculations, but I wonder how this affects those depending on GPAs from DSSTs and Straighterline. I'm going to try to find this law to get a better understanding.

By state law, only coursework from accredited U.S. colleges and universities of higher education can be used for computation of grade point averages.

Eligibility & Residence Information - Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

[clep3705]

As far as GPAs from credit by exam (CBE - AP, CLEP, DSST) is concerned, as long as the CBE comes from an accredited school, there is no issue. CBE is awarded by an institution. The institution usually doesn't assign a grade and thus the credit is outside of GPA calculations. But a few institutions do assign a grade to CBE. Wharton County Junior College (the Harvard on the Colorado river, as they say) assigns grades to CBE. See WCJC Student Services for more information. Since WCJC is accredited, the CBE comes from them, so they can assign a grade which will legally be used in GPA calculations.

If the CBE was granted by a nonaccredited institution, then if a grade was assigned, it could not be used in a GPA calculation.

[sanantone]

I don't know... CBEs aren't treated like transfer courses. Even though Texas has this law about accepting core courses from other Texas public colleges, colleges can still reject CBEs that aren't used in the core. I've had colleges say we'll accept this, this, and this but we won't accept that even though it was something on my TESC transcript. The reason why they rejected the CBE is because it was not on their list of acceptable CBEs. Being that these colleges aren't really that strict about what they accept as transfer credit, the rejected CBEs would have more than likely transferred if they had been taken as courses at RA colleges. I don't know about all colleges, but many will require transcripts directly from DANTES and the College Board. They won't accept CBEs based on the transcript from a college that awarded credit for them.

Now, if these were challenge exams offered by the original college, it might be a different story even though they technically do not qualify as "coursework." Otherwise, CLEPs, AP exams, and DSSTs are not offered by accredited colleges (they are offered by companies) and could possibly fall into the same category as other ACE credits. What makes CBEs different than Straighterline other than that Straighterline requires more coursework? This is sort of like when one college decides to use transfer credits in its GPA calculation. Just because that one school used transfer credits in its GPA calculation, it doesn't mean that the transfer credits came from that school. When you transfer to another school, they will require transcripts from the original college where the coursework was taken.

[clep3705]

When a Texas school posts CBE to the transcript with a full course designation such as ENGL 1301 Composition 3 hours, it is no longer CBE, it is for practical purposes coursework. If it is core, it is going to transfer. CBE is not directly transferrable. What is transferred is the coursework that the CBE replaces. That is why a junior college student is able to get credit for DSST tests at UT Austin. UT Austin doesn't give credit for DSST, but it has to accept core transfer credit even if the transfer credit came from DSST.

Have you considered that Texas law might not offer the same protections for out of state transcripts?

[sanantone]

When a Texas school posts CBE to the transcript with a full course designation such as ENGL 1301 Composition 3 hours, it is no longer CBE, it is for practical purposes coursework. If it is core, it is going to transfer. CBE is not directly transferrable. What is transferred is the coursework that the CBE replaces. That is why a junior college student is able to get credit for DSST tests at UT Austin. UT Austin doesn't give credit for DSST, but it has to accept core transfer credit even if the transfer credit came from DSST.

Have you considered that Texas law might not offer the same protections for out of state transcripts?

I know that particular law does not apply to out of state colleges and it also does not apply to courses outside of the core. The core is normally around 40-something credits. Nothing in the law says that grades have to be transferred. If one is using COSC or EC to get grades for CBEs, there is the possibility that grad schools in Texas will not include them in grade calculations. Basically, outside of the core at public, Texas schools, CBEs are not treated like RA transfer credits at many colleges.