credit laundering in Texas

[cookderosa]

<NAME REMOVED> a member shared these links with me. It appears as if there is an opportunity for credit laundering if you send your CLEP scores to a Texas CC and then attend a Texas University. Completion of an entire AA/AS is not required as I understand it, but this is his first hand experience not mine. This might be helpful to those of you in/near Texas. As far as I know, if this is true, this is the ONLY legitimate opportunity for credit laundering in the country. That's not to say that similar agreements don't exist, just that it's never come up in my digging.



<<I will offer the speculation that this is an outgrowth (or perhaps unintended consequence) of legislation that I was passed in (possibly) 1999 to stop the rampant problems of students losing hours when transferring from one Texas school to another.

http://wweb.uta.edu/catalog/content/...dmissions.aspx
"Credit-by-examination earned at other institutions is treated as transfer credit only if the sending institution posts such credit on the student's transcript with regular catalog course numbers and with a grade of at least C, with the symbol CR, or with a similar designation representing credit earned without letter grade."

CBE used to satisfy the Texas Academic Core Curriculum gets extra protection. It must transfer by law.
Petitions & Core Transfer Credit | School of Undergraduate Studies
"In accordance with 19 Texas Administrative Code §4.28, transferred coursework that is not evaluated as a direct equivalent to a UT Austin core course and not approved for credit by substitution will still be automatically counted toward appropriate core curriculum areas if transferred from another Texas public institution that considers the course part of its core curriculum."
http://www.uhv.edu/catalog/transunde...atecredit.aspx
"Credit by examination earned at another institution may be transferred provided the institution is accredited by one of the six recognized regional accrediting associations, the credit is of college level, and the credit is shown on the school’s official transcript. Exam credits earned at another institution and accepted in transfer does not imply that the credits are applicable to a particular degree program."

Policies : Testing, Research Support & Evaluation Center : Texas State University
"Transcripted credit earned via credit by exam by students transferring to Texas State will be evaluated for transfer eligibility in the same manner as other traditional course credit." In other words, it is treated the same as the actual courses being transferred.

Here is a clearer statement from UT Austin: http://www.utexas.edu/student/admiss...blems/cbe.html
"the credit must appear on transcript with a letter grade or with the institution's standard designation (if any) for course credit earned without a letter grade (CR, P, etc.)."

I doubt most college advisors in Texas know how things really work. This isn't a mistake. I've seen it happen consistently at three schools with three people.

Now let me show you what won't transfer:

TRAN 1111 Transfer Credit (Ugrad) 2011 Summer CR 64.00

For my BSN, we had to have 64 hours of prequisites. If my nursing school transcript is sent to another school in Texas, I can't get credit for any of this 64 hour credit block because it doesn't have any specific course name/number/titles specified.

People in Texas need to know this - and be prepared to escalate it up the chain of command when a flunkie says to the contrary.
>>

[clep3705]

Two comments I heard today from a college official at one of the largest universities in the state:

"Yes, it's a loophole." (In reference to transfering AP/CLEP/DSST credit from a community college to a university that does not award any direct credit for the same AP/CLEP/DSST test.)
"You have to know how to work the system."

What if both the community college and the university offer AP/CLEP/DSST credit for the same course? You might want direct credit instead of transfer credit so that it doesn't count against the limit of 66 transferrable hours.

[29palms]

Texas had a real hardon against DETC NA approved schools. I'm not sure if its still somewhat illegal to use DETC NA as means for promotion or hiring in the state of Texas. I don't know if that has ever been resolved or not. Texas seems pretty protective of their RA colleges in state.

[sanantone]

I was explaining to another member about how some police departments and fire departments in Texas will not accept NA degrees for hiring. Although, I think one police department will give incentive pay for a bachelors or masters from an NA school even though they won't accept an NA associates for hiring. I never heard of it being illegal to use an NA degree, though. We have plenty of ACCSC and ACICS schools operating in Texas. I would think that if DETC degrees were illegal to use, then it would be illegal for DETC schools to serve Texas students. I have come across warnings on colleges' websites that they aren't legally allowed to offer certain degree programs to residents of certain states.

[clep3705]

I haven't seen the transferring of CBE occur between community colleges in Texas. When I've seen CBE transfer, it has always been from community college to university, not community college to community college. I expect that it would work for university to university transfers.

[clep3705]

Both of my sons have extensive credit by examination (CBE) awarded at a Texas community college that has a very liberal CBE policy. Each has transferred to a different community college or junior college. Both were able to transfer all of their CBE hours even though the new schools don't give credit for all of the exams the first school gave credit for. One son had CBE from a university transfer to a junior college. All of this CBE transfer credits were accomplished without AP, CLEP, or DSST transcripts being sent to the new schools.

It's very simple. In Texas, if you have a course number and name on your transcript from a public college or university, it will transfer to another public college or university. I've seen this at multiple schools several times now.

There are two problems. Most administrative employees don't know this. CBE appears on electronic transcripts in a different location that many people don't know how to access. Once you can get past all of this, it works. Start the process very early because it can take time to get everything resolved.

[sanantone]

I've attended two community college systems. Central Texas College accepts DSSTs and CLEPs, but the Alamo Community Colleges only accept CLEP without any hassle. I've sent my Central Texas College transcript to them, but they won't give me credit for DSST exams unless I get approval from the appropriate departments. However, when I try to contact the appropriate departments, they either never respond or they tell me that the DSST has to be approved with the testing center, which is wrong.

My problem is that I have only taken one course at Central Texas College, which means I would have to take more with them to reach the 25% residency requirement. I've taken dozens of credits at the Alamo Community Colleges, but I can't even get credit for some of the general education courses I need. It's just so much easier dealing with TESC, but paying another enrollment fee is not what I want to do. If I have to, I guess I will shove the administrative code in their faces.

[clep3705]

The links with the ... are broken. Here is the entire list reposted. We had no success communicating with people who process CBE. Success required communicating only with people who deal with transfer credits. You have to convince the transfer credit people that the credits are no longer CBE.

Credit by Examination - University College - The University of Texas at Arlington
"Credit by examination earned at other institutions is treated as transfer credit only if the sending institution posts such credit on the student's transcript with regular catalog course numbers and with a grade of at least C, with the symbol CR, or with a similar designation representing credit earned without letter grade."

CBE used to satisfy the Texas Academic Core Curriculum gets extra protection. It must transfer by law.
Common Core Petitions | School of Undergraduate Studies (last paragraph)
"In accordance with 19 Texas Administrative Code §4.28, transferred coursework that is not evaluated as a direct equivalent to a UT Austin core course and not approved for credit by substitution will still be automatically counted toward appropriate core curriculum areas if transferred from another Texas public institution that considers the course part of its core curriculum."

University of Houston-Victoria | Transfer of Undergraduate Credits (second paragraph under Undergraduate Credit by Examination)
"Credit by examination earned at another institution may be transferred provided the institution is accredited by one of the six recognized regional accrediting associations, the credit is of college level, and the credit is shown on the school’s official transcript. Exam credits earned at another institution and accepted in transfer does not imply that the credits are applicable to a particular degree program."

Policies : Testing, Research Support & Evaluation Center : Texas State University
"Transcripted credit earned via credit by exam by students transferring to Texas State will be evaluated for transfer eligibility in the same manner as other traditional course credit." In other words, it is treated the same as the actual courses being transferred.

Common Transfer Credit Issues - Credit by Exam
"the credit must appear on transcript with a letter grade or with the institution's standard designation (if any) for course credit earned without a letter grade (CR, P, etc.)."

[sanantone]

Thank you and Cookderosa for the information. I've found Central Texas College to be the most liberal in accepting CLEP, DSST, and ECE. Now, I just have to convince them to accept Uexcel. Basically, I'm thinking about applying to a biomedical PhD program and the program contact person has no idea what I'm talking about when I bring up credit-by-exam even though the health professions school has a list of CLEPs and DSSTs it accepts. If I'm not accepted, I would like to get a science bachelors from one of the Alamo Community Colleges.

[sanantone]

I've found the applicable administrative code.

© Transfer of Credit--Completed Core Curriculum. If a student successfully completes the 42 semester credit hour core curriculum at a Texas public institution of higher education, that block of courses may be transferred to any other Texas public institution of higher education and must be substituted for the receiving institution's core curriculum. A student shall receive academic credit for each of the courses transferred and may not be required to take additional core curriculum courses at the receiving institution.

(e) Transfer of Credit--Core Curriculum Not Completed. Except as specified in subsection (f) of this section, a student who transfers from one institution of higher education to another without completing the core curriculum of the sending institution shall receive academic credit within the core curriculum of the receiving institution for each of the courses that the student has successfully completed in the core curriculum of the sending institution. Following receipt of credit for these courses, the student may be required to satisfy the remaining course requirements in the core curriculum of the receiving institution.

http://info.sos.state.tx.us/pls/pub/read...ch=4&rl=28

This seems like it only applies to courses that fulfill general education requirements. In other words, it wouldn't apply to business or other applied professional courses that aren't counted as social science, natural science, humanities, etc.