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Policy

Departmental Authority to Modify Requirements for Transfer Students (Trans-Flex)

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University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Policy Name: Departmental Authority to Modify Requirements for Transfer Students (Trans-Flex)
Policy Number:
Effective Date: January 2011

Trans-Flex Reporting Form (revised August 22 2011)

Policy:

INTRODUCTION

In January 2011, the Faculty Senate passed legislation that grants to departments special authority to modify degree requirements for transfer students. (The Senate had previously granted such authority to four programs on a trial basis. The new legislation extends the authority to all undergraduate programs.) The following outlines the substantive details of the new policy and specifies reporting and processing procedures.

Substantive policy details relevant to implementation as established by the Admission and Transfer Credit Committee.
Eligible students

Legislation passed by the Faculty Senate in January 2011 cites “transfer students” as those eligible.

Notes:

  1. According to the UALR Undergraduate Catalog (2010-2011), “A transfer student is one who has previously enrolled at another college or university at any time and acquired at least 12 hours of academic credit.” (p. 1).
  2. The January 2011 Faculty Senate minutes state, “ …high school students with concurrent credit are not considered transfer students.”
Requirements that cannot be adjusted (from the 2011 Legislation)
  • “Minimum hours (124) and GPA (2.00) required for graduation
  • Minimum hours and GPA required for majors and minors
  • Foreign language competence for BA majors
  • Mathematics & U.S. History/Government”
Requirements that may be adjusted (from the 2011 Legislation):
  • “45 upper-level hours
  • 30 hours in residence
  • core requirements*
  • major requirements
  • minor requirements

*While students entering UALR with a high number of semester credit hours (75 or more) in transfer should be given the benefit of a broad interpretation regarding satisfaction of core requirements, the state specified 35-hour core is still applicable.”

Notes:

  1. Departments have always had the authority to make adjustments to majors and minors they offer. The new legislation does not alter that authority.
  2. The only adjustment to a minor that a department other than the department offering the minor can make is to waive the general requirement for a minor (if the major in question requires the student to have a minor). For example, the BA in Political Science normally requires a minor, and Senate legislation authorizes the Political Science Department to waive the requirement for a minor. However, the Political Science Department cannot change the requirements of, say, the Bioinfomatics minor. If the student wants a Bioinfomatics minor, only the chair of Information Science can make adjustments to that minor.
  3. The legislation indicates two broad guidelines for adjustments: “Departments should keep two broad criteria in mind when considering waivers, substitutions, exceptions, etc., to current policies: (a) Will the student be as ready for graduate study in the discipline? (b)Will the student be as employable?”
  4. The phrase “75 or more” in the asterisked statement is a recommendation and should not be interpreted as the minimum number of credit hours a transfer student must have to receive an adjustment to core requirements.
  5. An additional recommendation of the Admission and Transfer Committee is that requirements should not be waived for students who have free remaining general elective hours (that is, the difference between 124 and any remaining requirements in the core, major, minor, or second languages). If a student has free remaining hours that could be used to take any course whatsoever, it would be difficult to justify why those hours should not be devoted to regular requirements.
  6. A student for whom adjustments to degree requirements is made under this legislation does not have a right for those adjustments to continue to apply if he or she declares a different major.
  7. The legislation requires departments to keep records of any adjustments so that the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs can collect and report data on the use of the authority granted by the legislation.
In order to grant adjustments, the department chair and/or undergraduate program coordinator must do the following
  1. Review the core transfer articulation completed by the Office of Transfer Student Services before initiating changes in core requirements;
  2. Follow the reporting and processing procedures specified in Part II of this document below.
Reporting and processing procedures
Reporting procedures

The department chair and/or undergraduate program coordinator must complete the Trans-Flex Reporting Form (revised August 22 2011).xls when making any adjustments to degree requirements under the January 2011 Senate legislation (Trans-Flex).

The reporting form requests background information that is not provided via the online Individual Degree Adjustment process. In particular, the reporting form requires a summary of the remaining requirements a student would have were he or she not granted any special adjustments (information that cannot be extracted from BOSS or Banner alone). This information is necessary to monitor need for the special flexibility authorized by the legislation and its application across campus.

The department should complete the Excel form and forward it to transflexreports@ualr.edu as an attachment to email at the same time it submits the Individual Degree Adjustment (IDA) in BOSS.

The Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs will collect the Excel forms from the transflex mail box for the compilation and analysis of data.

Neither the Office of Transfer Support Services nor the Office of Records will retain or forward the reporting forms to the Office of the Provost. Whatever other use might be made of the Excel reporting form, it must always also be forwarded directly to transflexreports@ualr.edu.

Processing procedures

The basic processing of adjustments made under the authority of Trans-Flex is relatively easy. Matters are complicated somewhat if a student for whom adjustments have been made under Trans-Flex subsequently changes majors. Although the student has no right by policy for the adjustments to follow him or her to the new major, some of the adjustments (because of the way the degree audit is built) are not automatically removed from the degree audit.

Because of the procedural complications introduced if a student changes majors after adjustments have been made, departments should be certain that a student is deeply committed to the major before processing these special adjustments.

Also, if a student’s degree requirements are adjusted under the authority of this legislation, the signed degree plan for the student should include a note to indicate clearly that the adjustments apply only the to the major for which the plan is drawn up.

The basic instructions for each type of allowable adjustment are in standard text below. Further remarks and instructions that address the effect of a change of major on the adjustments are italicized. Also, an abbreviated summary of the effects of a change of major on the adjustments appears in “C” below. It is recommended that readers first familiarize themselves with the basic instructions before tackling the passages that address the effect of a change of major on the adjustments.

Adjustments to core:

If, after reviewing the transfer core articulation completed by the Office of Transfer Student Services (reflected on the degree audit or CAPP report), the department wishes to waive a component or components of core requirements, it must do the following:

  1. Send an email to transferoffice@ualr.edu, with “Trans-Flex” in the subject line.
  2. Indicate the component or components of the core to be waived in the body of the email.
  3. Attach a copy of the Trans-Flex Reporting Form (revised August 22 2011).xls (see Part II, A, above).

    4. Note: While the Office of Transfer Student Services may consult the Trans-Flex Reporting Form (revised August 22 2011).xls for context when it is useful to do so, that office will not retain or forward the form to transflexreports@ualr.edu. It is the responsibility of the department to do so.

  4. Follow the same steps for waiving core requirements for students who were in the pipeline prior to when the Office of Transfer Support Services began articulating core transfer work.

The Office of Transfer Student Services will verify that the adjustment is within the requirements of the 35-hour State Minimum Core and submit the adjustment to the Office of Records via the Individual Degree Adjustment (IDA). The Office of Transfer Student Services will indicate in the textbox of the IDA that the adjustments are done under the authority of Trans-Flex.

The major department will receive an email confirming that the IDA has been submitted. When the adjustment is processed by the Office of Records, it will appear on the degree audit or CAPP report.

In addition to the adjustments, a text note will appear in the core area of the degree audit indicating “Core adjusted under Trans-Flex by [alpha code of major department].”

If a student has adjustments made in one core and then changes to a major with a different core (say, from Information Science, which requires the EIT core, to French, which requires the standard core), the core adjustments will not appear on the degree audit report for the new major. However, if the students changes to a major with the same core (say, from French to Criminal Justice, both of which require the standard core), the adjustments and text note will still appear on the degree audit for the new major. If the new major does not wish to approve the adjustments (the student does not have a right for the adjustment to follow him or her to the new major—see Part I. C, note 5 above), it must submit an IDA to reverse them.

Adjustments other than to core (waiver of requirement for a minor; decrease of residency hours requirement; decrease of upper-level hours requirement)

All adjustments other than to core are processed directly by departments via the online Individual Degree Adjustment (IDA) process.

Departments should not send the Excel reporting form to Records; that the Trans-Flex Reporting Form (revised August 22 2011).xlsshould be send directly to transflexreports@ualr.edu (see instructions for reporting above, Part II, A).

Note: Since the Senate legislation does not change the authority of a department to adjust requirements of majors and minors that it offers, such adjustments should be processed according to normal Individual Degree Adjustments procedures. The following instructions are for adjustments done under the special authority extended by the January 2011 Senate legislation only.

  1. Waiver of requirement for a minor (see note “b” under item “C” of Part I of this document for further clarification of the flexibility regarding minors authorized by the Senate legislation):

If the student’s major requires a minor, but the student has yet to declare a minor, proceed to directly to the instructions below.

If the student has already declared a minor, have the student un-declare the minor using the normal online declaration of major/minor process. After the major department and college have approved the request, follow the instructions below.

  • Since the student will not have a declared minor, an area for a minor will not appear on the IDA form. Therefore, select the major area on the IDA form. Be sure to select the major area as opposed to particular requirements within the major.
  • Select “Other Change” from the action menu.
  • Enter “Waive minor per Trans-Flex” in the “Request Details” text box.
  • Continue to process IDA per IDA training instructions.

Once the request has been processed by Records, a text note that a minor is not required of the student will appear in the major area of the degree audit report.

If, after the requirement for a minor has been waived, a student changes to a different major, the text note will not appear in the degree audit report for the new major. If the new major normally requires a minor, that requirement applies unless the new major waives it. (See Part I. C, note 5 above.)

Decrease total upper-level hours requirement:
  1. Select the upper-level requirement area on the IDA form.
  2. Select “Change Credit Requirements” from the action menu.
  3. Change the value in the “Change credits to” field to the desire number.
  4. Continue to process the IDA per IDA training instructions.

Once the request has been processed by Records, the UL requirement on the degree audit report will reflect the new value.

In addition, a text note indicating the new value for minimum upper-level hours will appear in the UL requirement area of the report. This note will be important if the student changes majors, because although the student does not have a right for the adjustment to follow him or her to a different major (See Part I. C, note 5 above), the adjustment in the upper-level requirement area of the degree audit report will not automatically revert to 45. If the new major does not wish to approve the decrease in the upper-level requirement, it must submit an IDA to reverse it.

Decrease hours-in-residence requirement

Although “Required Institutional” hours (the residency requirement) is reported in the top section of the IDA form, the form is not set up to select required institutional hours as an adjustable area. Therefore, select the major area on the IDA form. Be sure to select the major area as opposed to particular requirements within the major.

  1. Select “Other Change” from the action menu.
  2. Enter “Reduce residency requirement to [new value] per Trans-Flex” in the “Request Details” text box.
  3. Continue to process IDA per IDA training instructions.

Once the request has been processed by Records, the “Required Institutional Hours” requirement at the top of the degree audit report will reflect the new value.

If the student changes majors, the value in the “Required Institutional Hours” requirement at the top of the degree audit report will automatically revert to 30. The student does not have a right for the adjustment to follow him or her to a different major (See Part I. C, note 5 above). If the new major wishes to reduce the requirement, it must submit a new IDA. “New major” in this particular context includes what is often called a different “emphasis area,” “concentration,” or “track” within a major. If the hours are reduced when the student is declared in one “emphasis area,” “concentration,” or “track,” the requirement at the top of the degree audit will automatically revert to 30 if the student declares in a different “emphasis area,” “concentration,” or “track” within the same major.

Summary of effect of change of major on adjustments in Degree Audit done under Trans-Flex Authority

The basic processing of adjustments made under the authority of Trans-Flex is relatively easy. As the foregoing instructions make evident, matters are complicated somewhat if a student for whom adjustments have been made under Trans-Flex changes majors. Although the student has no right for the adjustments to follow him or her to the new major, some of the adjustments are not automatically removed from the degree audit. The following summarizes the effects of a change a major on adjustments in the degree audit. In cases where the adjustments are not automatically removed and the new major does not wish to approve them, the new major must submit an IDA to remove the adjustments.

Adjustment of core requirements
If new major requires same core as previous major:

Adjustments will still appear on the report for new major. Text note in core area of report will prompt new major that adjustments under Trans-Flex have been made to core. If new major does not approve adjustments, it must submit new IDA to reverse them.

If the new major requires a different core:

Adjustments will not appear on the report for the new major. No additional action required by the new major.

Waiver of requirement for a minor

The text note in the Major Area of the report for the original major that the minor requirement has been waived will not appear in the report for the new major. No additional action required by the new major.

Decrease total upper-level hours requirement

The adjustment in the upper-level requirement area of the degree audit report will not automatically revert to 45. However, a text note will appear in the UL requirement area of the report indicating that the requirement has been reduced. If the new major does not wish to approve the decrease in the upper-level requirement, it must submit an IDA to reverse it.

Decrease hours-in-residence requirement:

The value in the “Required Institutional Hours” requirement at the top of the degree audit report will automatically revert to 30. No additional action required by the new major, unless the “new major” is a different “emphasis area,” “concentration,” or “track” within the same major, and the department wishes the residency requirement to be reduced in the new “emphasis area,” “concentration,” or “track.”


Source: Faculty Senate
Revised: July 7, 2011
Approved by: Daryl Rice, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success
Custodian: Provost

Updated 9.14.2011