College officials have been told for years that students too often are losing credits when they transfer from a community college to a four-year state college.

That may soon change.

The Board of Regents for Higher Education — which oversees the state’s dozen community colleges and four state universities — in September approved a sample transfer policy that will require every college to offer all the same general education courses.

Translation: students are guaranteed that 30 credit hours of courses they took will transfer seamlessly to their new college.

But before the 30-hour universal credits begin being implemented for the 6,800 students that move from college-to-college in the system each year, the regents sought the nod from faculty boards at each of the campuses.

So far the faculty boards for 10 colleges have approved the transfer policy, Tunxis Community College has rejected it and six faculty boards still have to vote. That voting will wrap up by Feb. 15.

Faculty informed legislators last year that have some concerns with a universal approach.

Merle Harris, the regent who has been the point person for implementing this policy, said that she is not sure what the next step is at the colleges where the faculty are not on board.

“We will have to discus exactly what we are to do,” Harris said after briefing the regents on the issue during their meeting Thursday.

State law requires that, “Teaching faculty from the regional community-technical college system and the Connecticut State University System, elected pursuant to a uniform, system-wide election by the faculty senates representing each of such constituent units, shall be included in the development and implementation of the general education core of courses.”

The law requires that these general education courses be in place by July 1 of this year.

Harris said the timing couldn’t be better.

“It’s been an issue for many years,” she said.

Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

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