AN ACT relating to postsecondary education.

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AN ACT relating to postsecondary education. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 164.2951 is amended to read as follows: 3
(1) [Beginning with the 2012 -2013 academic year and each academic year thereafter 4
]For first -time students enrolling in a public college or university, postsecondary 5
education institutions ar e encouraged to limit the credit -hour requirements to sixty 6
(60) credit hours for each associate of science or associate of arts degree program 7
and to one hundred twenty (120) credit hours for each bachelor of arts or bachelor 8
of science degree program, except in situations in which: 9
(a) Quality and content of a program would be negatively impacted; or 10
(b) A program must comply with specific program standards established by 11
external accreditation bodies. 12
(2) The council [ on Postsecondary Education] , in collaboration with the public 13
universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College 14
System[community and technical colleges], shall: 15
(a) Facilitate the development and implementation of a statewide agreement for 16
alignment of Kentucky Community and Technical College System lower -17
division associate of arts and associate of science coursework that shall be 18
accepted and fully credited to related bachelors degree programs by all public 19
universities. The agreement shall s pecify the general education learning 20
outcomes and program -specific prerequisite learning outcomes of the 21
coursework. Where applicable, curricula shall be reviewed to determine 22
comparability of core content standards required under KRS 164.302. The 23
agreement shall direct that the associate of arts and associate of science 24
coursework meeting the learning outcomes specified shall be accepted for 25
transfer and degree credit, whether earned as individual courses or within 26
block programs; 27
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(b) Develop, implement, and maintain a Kentucky Community and Technical 1
College System statewide course numbering system for lower -division 2
general education and program -specific prerequisite courses that include the 3
same learning outcomes; 4
(c) 1. By July 1, 2028, develop, imple ment, and maintain statewide transfer 5
pathways consisting of up to sixty (60) credit hours that shall be 6
applied to the requirements of baccalaureate degree programs at any 7
participating public university. 8
2. Statewide transfer pathways for baccalaureate d egree programs shall 9
be identified based on relevant factors, including but not limited to: 10
a. Student demand; 11
b. Workforce demands as demonstrated through data from the 12
Kentucky Center for Statistics; and 13
c. Existing commonalities in student learning outc omes up to the 14
first sixty (60) credit hours of baccalaureate degree programs 15
among two (2) or more public universities. 16
3. Each statewide transfer pathway shall consist of up to sixty (60) credit 17
hours that shall be available for transfer and application toward 18
degree requirements in the corresponding degree program or 19
programs at each participant institution. Students may earn credit in 20
statewide transfer pathways through any means prescribed by the 21
institution, including but not limited to credit for pr ior learning and 22
dual credit as defined by the council. 23
4. A public institution offering a baccalaureate program that would 24
otherwise be included in a statewide transfer pathway but is not 25
participating due to limited alignment in student learning outcomes 26
shall identify those courses in the pathway that will not be eligible for 27
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credit in a core course requirement and publish the list of courses on 1
the institution's website. 2
5. The council shall publish on its website a list of pathways, including 3
the existing statewide transfer pathways and participating institutions, 4
available to students; 5
(d) Establish a statewide course classification system and procedures to monitor 6
the transfer and crediting of lower -division coursework, including a system of 7
ongoing assessment that ensures comparability for transfer purposes; 8
(e)[(d)] Establish a procedure for approval of changes in learning outcomes at 9
public universities as described in subsection (3) of this section; 10
(f)[(e)] Standardize credit -by-exam equivalencies and common passing scores 11
for national exams transferable for general education courses and program -12
specific prerequisites courses; 13
(g)[(f)] Develop policies to align statewide articulation and transfer procedures 14
across educational institutions, includin g admissions criteria, student 15
declaration of major, and student guidance and counseling policies designed 16
to ensure that students pursuing an associate of arts or associate of science 17
degree program provide timely notification of their intention to transf er to a 18
public university; 19
(h)[(g)] Develop uniform data collection and reporting methods to facilitate and 20
ensure statewide and institutional compliance with course transfer and credit 21
requirements; 22
(i)[(h)] Guarantee that, upon admission to a public univ ersity, graduates of an 23
associate of arts or an associate of science degree program approved by the 24
council in consultation with public universities shall be deemed to have met 25
all general education requirements; 26
(j)[(i)] Provide that graduates of approved associate of arts and associate of 27
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science degree programs of Kentucky public postsecondary institutions who 1
complete the prerequisite learning outcomes for a bachelor of arts or bachelor 2
of science program while fulfilling the requirements for an associa te of art or 3
associate of science degree, shall not be required to repeat or to take any 4
additional lower -level courses to fulfill bachelor degree requirements in the 5
same major, and these students shall be granted admission to related upper -6
division bachelors degree programs of a state public college or university on 7
the same criteria as those students earning lower -division credits at the 8
university to which the student transferred; 9
(k)[(j)] Provide that graduates of approved associate of arts and associa te of 10
science degree programs shall receive priority for admission to a state public 11
university over out-of-state students if they meet the same admission criteria; 12
(l)[(k)] Establish a commonality in college transcripts to be used in all public 13
colleges and universities to facilitate transfer from community and technical 14
colleges; 15
(m)[(l)] Encourage private colleges and universities to collaborate with public 16
educational institutions in developing programs and agreement to expedite the 17
transfer of students and credits between institutions; 18
(n)[(m)] Establish an appeals process to resolve disagreements between 19
transferring students and receiving educational institutions regarding the 20
transfer and acceptance of credits earned at another institution; 21
(o)[(n)] Ensure that all articulation and transfer policies are consistent with the 22
rules and regulations established by all appropriate discipline -specific 23
accrediting bodies and institutional accrediting agencies as recognized by the 24
United States Department of Education; and 25
(p)[(o)] Facilitate the development and implementation of a statewide 26
standardized articulation agreement to be executed [by July 1, 2021, ]between 27
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public colleges and universities and the Kentucky Department of Education 1
for each approved hi gh school career pathway that leads to a postsecondary 2
credential, certification, license, or degree. Upon meeting the requirements of 3
the standardized articulation agreement, a student shall be awarded 4
postsecondary credit for prior learning at any public college or university. 5
(3) Regardless of the existence of a council -identified statewide transfer pathway, 6
when an institution seeks to make changes to curricula that impacts the 7
transferability of credit [change learning outcomes] for a bachelor of arts o r 8
bachelor of science program that affect lower -division courses, the 9
institution[university] shall notify the council [ on Postsecondary Education] and 10
the Kentucky Community and Technical College System of the proposed changes 11
at the same time as the init iation of the institution's[university's] approval process. 12
The council shall then provide written notification to all other public 13
postsecondary education institutions of the proposed change. If it is determined 14
that the proposed change will have an adver se effect on transferability, the 15
institution[university] proposing the change shall enter into discussion with the 16
council, the other public postsecondary education institutions, and the Kentucky 17
Community and Technical College System to verify there remains a clearly defined 18
path to transfer credits[a bachelor's degree] for those students who plan to transfer 19
from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System or another pub lic 20
postsecondary education institution to the institution[public university] . The 21
council shall be responsible for coordinating the discussion among the public 22
postsecondary education institutions. 23
(4) Beginning July 1, 2028: 24
(a) Any student who transfers among participating public postsecondary 25
education institutions shall be awarded credit by the receiving institution for 26
courses satisfactorily completed by the student at any participating public 27
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postsecondary education instituti on when the credit was part of a statewide 1
transfer pathway available at both the earning institution and the receiving 2
institution; and 3
(b) Public postsecondary education institutions receiving transfer course credit 4
within a statewide transfer pathway sh all accept and apply general 5
education courses and credit in the equivalent pathway at the receiving 6
institution. The credit shall be applied as first satisfying general education 7
core course credit requirements and program -specific general education 8
course credit requirements before being applied as elective credit. 9