SECOND REGULAR SESSION
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES FARES (Sponsor), BIVINS, SCHAAF, WALLACE, MORRIS, SANDER, KINGERY, PARKER, DAVIS (122), McKENNA, CARNAHAN, DAVIS (19), WALSH, BYRD,
WILSON (130), RUESTMAN AND SCHLOTTACH (Co-sponsors).Read 1st time January 22, 2004, and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 174, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to community college transfer credit.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 174, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 174.035, to read as follows:
174.035. 1. Consistent with the provision of the transfer and articulation policy promulgated by the Committee on Transfer and Articulation, the coordinating board for higher education, in the best interests of citizens of this state, shall:
(1) Ensure that academic course work applicable to an associate of arts degree offered at a regionally accredited two-year or four-year public institution shall be deemed to be of an equivalent standard of academic quality;
(2) Ensure that, except for college preparatory course work, all courses applicable to an associate of arts degree at a regionally accredited public two-year institution shall transfer and apply toward like requirements for a baccalaureate degree at all pubic four-year institutions;
(3) Ensure that an associate of arts degree graduate shall be accepted on transfer at all public four-year institutions, without exception, as a third-year student, with all lower-level general education requirements recognized as having been met;
(4) Ensure that associate of arts degree graduates from public two-year institutions shall be able to complete a baccalaureate degree at public four-year institutions with the same total number of credit hours as required of a native student at the public four-year institutions, with the sole exception of any lower-level program prerequisite for a required upper-level course that has not been met;
(5) Ensure that associate of arts degree graduates may continue to earn additional credits beyond those required for the associate of arts degree at a public community college. All public four-year institutions shall accept as transfer credit toward the student's baccalaureate degree additional college courses beyond the associate of arts degree, provided those or similar courses are listed in the public four-year institution's catalog as appropriate to the baccalaureate degree or as a prerequisite to a course required for the baccalaureate degree;
(6) Require that all public four-year institutions of higher education will publish, for public view, course and program equivalencies that support the transfer of academic credit from two-year institutions to respective four-year institutions by the fall semester of 2008;
(7) Ensure that students transferring from a public four-year institution to a public two-year institution receive transfer credit for all general education courses which apply to the baccalaureate degree, toward the associate of arts, associate of science, and associate of applied science degrees.
2. All private or independent institutions that receive state funds shall also participate in this system of transfer and articulation. Failure to do so will result in the loss of eligibility for such funds, including scholarship dollars supported by state appropriations.
3. The coordinating board of higher education will establish a mechanism to appeal any adverse transfer decisions by any institution covered by this section.
4. Failure to comply with subdivision (6) of subsection 1 of this section, by the fall of 2008 shall cause the coordinating board of higher education to institute a common course numbering system across all public institutions by the fall of 2010.