PDF: Senate Bill 3128WHAT’S THE PROPOSAL?State Senate bill 3128 attempts to change the threshold for full-time college students at state universities from 12 hours to 14 classes. The bill would set the state lottery scholarship requirements to 14 hours as well.Source: SB 3128
The definition of a full-time college student in Tennessee may change if a new bill gains steam in the Tennessee General Assembly.
The two resolutions, sponsored by state Sen. Jamie Woodson, R-Knoxville, and state Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville, would increase the credit hours required to be a full-time student from 12 to 14 and change the credit-hour requirements for receiving the Tennessee HOPE scholarship.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga officials said, if passed, the legislation could send shock waves through the state’s higher education community.
“This would have significant implications all over the place,” said UTC Provost Phil Oldham. “Although good in intent to increase the graduation rate, it actually might be pretty difficult to implement, because the federal government defines full-time status as 12 semester hours and that is not going to change by state legislation.
“(The 12 full-time status) is embedded in so many things that it would cause a lot of difficulty for students. It would probably change our tuition model,” Dr. Oldham said.
Gov. Phil Bredesen and state legislators have put improving college graduation rates and speeding up degree completion at the top of the state’s political agenda. An education special session passed a bill last month that would force colleges to focus more on college completion.
Some argue that upping the credit-hour requirements for full-time students would prod students to finish their degrees faster. But students worry that being required to take more classes will set them up for failure.
Freshman students, especially, could struggle to balance five classes, instead of the standard four, with the new transition to college life, educators say.
“It will make students lose a lot of scholarships,” said April Presley, a senior majoring in accounting at UTC. “I took 12 hours when I started. Fifteen hours would have been a little much for me.”
The average student takes five years to graduate, mainly because taking 12 hours of classes for four years doesn’t amount to the hours needed to graduate, Dr. Oldham said. A student would have to take 15 hours for two semesters each year if he wanted to graduate in four years, he said.
The bill, introduced at the end of January, has been rolled for a few weeks, but UT system officials said they are keeping a close eye on the measure.
“We have got to explore it with the sponsors,” said Hank Dye, a spokesman for the UT system. “We will always applaud anything to get students in and out as fast as you can.”
Changing the full-time class load from four to five classes each semester also could present financial aid problems for students, he said. The federal government provides loans and Pell grants based on a full-time enrollment of 12 hours.
“It would minimally cause campuses to enforce two totally separate definitions of full time and, most likely inadvertently, cause a decrease in financial aid capacity,” Dr. Oldham said. “Financial aid is a tricky enterprise. It is unclear exactly what all this would mean.”
The bill’s sponsors could not be reached for comment.