ULL, LCTCS cry foul

Want to know why the University of Louisiana System and the Community and Technical College System are crying foul?

One of the Jindal administration's successes in the recently concluded legislative session was the creation of the so-called Tucker Commission. Named for Speaker of the House Jim Tucker, who wrote the resolution authorizing the commission, the nine member panel is to come up with a road map for Louisiana's higher education future.

The idea is that Louisiana has too many four-year institutions with too many overlapping programs. It was accepted at the capitol that this model is fiscally unsustainable, and that changes must be made.

In order to remove state politics from the equation as much as possible, the commission is supposed include four outside experts, along with two gubernatorial appointees, the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate or their appointees, and the chairman of the Board of Regents or his appointee.

The governor appointed the chairmen of the boards of LSU and Southern to the commission, but nobody thought to include ULL or LCTC in the mix.

According to this story by Advocate reporter Jordan Blum, the panel may be expanded to include reps from those systems. The catch is, they won't be able to vote.

Lawmakers will tackle college transfer "nightmare"

The chairman of the Senate Education Committee wants the state's higher education boards to resolve the turf wars that make it difficult for students to transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions.

Sen. Ben Nevers (D-Bogalusa) says he wants a resolution within two years, and will introduce legislation to that effect when lawmakers return to Baton Rouge in April.

In this article by Advocate reporter Jordan Blum, students describe the "nightmare" that comes when they try to transfer credits from community colleges to the traditional four-year schools.

Right now there is no standard set of guidelines that lets students know which courses will count toward a bachelor's degree when they transfer. One of the goals is "common course numbering." Identical courses would have the same numbers in all colleges. Another goal would guarantee that community college students could transfer to a four-year college as long as they follow the correct track.