Legislative Alert: Transfer of Credit

As you may be aware, the House education Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness considered a bill today, July 14, 2005, to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bill, H.R. 609, contains language that would federalize transfer of academic credit decisions by denying colleges and universities the right to base their credit acceptance policies on the accreditation status of sending institutions if the latter's accreditor is federally recognized. The new federal mandate would effectively eliminate all distinctions based on accreditation, and would force many institutions to spend significant new resources on finding substitutes for their current transfer practices. Following more than a day of consideration, the subcommittee approved the bill with the transfer of credit provision intact.

Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) worked hard to advance the debate around transfer of credit and, offered an amendment that would have made significant improvements to the language in H.R. 609. Unfortunately, Mr. Bishop's amendment failed on a party line vote with all Republicans voting against the amendment and one Democrat abstaining. Members of the Subcommittee voted on the Bishop Amendment as follows:

NO

Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif)
Rep. Castle (R-Del.)
Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.)
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.)
Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.)
Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.)
Rep. Tom Osborne (R-Neb.)
Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.)
Rep. John "Randy" Kuhl (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio)
Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Ohio)
Rep. Luis Fortuno (R-P.R.)
Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.)
Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas)
Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.)
Rep. Cathy McMorris (R-Wash.)
Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wisc.)

YES

Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.)
Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.)
Rep. Chris VanHollen (D-Md.)
Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.)
Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.)
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.)
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)
Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.)
Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.)
Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.Y.)
Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.)
Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisc.)
Rep. Robert Scott (D-Va.)

PRESENT BUT DID NOT VOTE

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.)

Some higher education associations, like the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) reportedly struck a deal with committee Republicans in support of the language in H.R. 609. Indeed, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the full Education and Workforce Committee, objected to the Bishop transfer amendment by pointing to the agreement the leadership had negotiated with certain higher education groups. While AACRAO is pleased to see that Chairman McKeon (R-Calif.) withdrew his earlier bills' most burdensome transfer tracking and reporting requirements, we regret the subcommittee's decision to micromanage the academic affairs of colleges and universities through the new federal transfer mandate.

H.R. 609 will be considered next week by the full House Education and the Workforce Committee and then by the entire House of Representatives later this year. The transfer language, however, is not expected to change. Should Congress complete work on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the law would likely take effect for the 2006-2007 academic year. Institutions that currently rely on distinctions among accreditors (i.e., regionals vs. nationals) should evaluate the proposed federal transfer mandate and inform their faculty of the need to develop new academic policies that would comport with the new rules should they be adopted into law.