Environmental Scan 2012

LEGISLATIVE / REGULATORY TRENDS

• Impacts of the 82nd Texas Legislation on the Alamo Colleges. This is an executive summary on Texas legislation impacting the Alamo Colleges.
• Momentum Points. This is a Student Achievement Initiative Momentum Point Calculation by the Washington State Board for Community College & Technical Colleges. The proposed Texas performance funding based on momentum points would reward schools for advancing along various momentum points of achievement while accomplishing the goals of the Closing the Gaps initiative. See minutes of a TCCTA legislative committee meeting discussing momentum points here and here.
• Department of Education Finalizes Program Integrity Rules. While the concern of the new “program integrity rules" is the rapid growth in for-profit education, all types of institutions participating in federal student aid programs are subject to them. Still to come in early 2011 are rules that would restrict the eligibility of some vocational programs for federal student aid based on their students' debt load and success in repaying loans. The new rules generally become effective on July 1, 2011.
• Maximum Pell Preserved. A congressional compromise on a federal budget for 2012 would preserve the maximum Pell Grant. Bill HR 3671 would preserve the maximum Pell Grant at $5,550, but change the program’s eligibility criteria, making at least 100,000 of its 9 million recipients ineligible. The grants could be used for a total of 12 semesters, not 18, affecting an estimated 62,000 beneficiaries and take effect July 1, 2012.
• Improving Oversight of Distance-Education Programs. The Department of Education has expanded its oversight of distance-education programs but has been hampered by a lack of data on the programs, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. The report recommends that the department develop a plan to use new data that the National Center for Education Statistics is collecting to guide its oversight efforts.
• Top 10 Higher Education State Policy Issues for 2011. Annually, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) reports the top 10 issues relating to policies of the states and higher education. This year's issues are (1) State Operating Support for Public Higher, (2) States’ College Completion and Educational Attainment Agendas, (3) College Readiness, (4) Tuition Prices and Policy, (5) State Student Aid Program Financing, (6) Student Enrollment Capacity, (7) State Data System Development, (8) Economic and Workforce Development, (9) States’ Political Climate, and (10) States’ Regulatory Framework.
• Recommended Priorities for the 82nd Legislature. Appropriations to maintain affordability and accessibility at community colleges and funding community college employee healthcare insurance are the top priorities recommended by the Texas Association of Community Colleges for the 2011 82nd Legislature.
• Ax Hangs Over State Aid for Health Benefits. The Texas Senate’s proposed budget would finance only 50 percent of health care costs for community college employees, down from 83 percent currently. The House budget would cover even less, about one-fifth of current financing, or $75 per eligible employee per month. If these cuts are approved, community colleges will have to scramble to squeeze millions of dollars more out of their already tight budgets.
• New Texas Law Requires Meningitis Vaccinations of All College Students. Texas became the first state to require every college student to be vaccinated against bacterial meningitis. While the Jamie Schanbaum Act of 2009 required students living in campus dorms to be vaccinated, the new law, which will take effect at the start of 2012, expands that provision to apply to any new student under 30 taking on-campus classes even if they live off campus.
• Your Guide to Gainful Employment. The Education Department’s final “gainful employment” rule strives to hold most programs at for-profit colleges and certificate and vocational programs at nonprofit institutions to a new federal standard on student debt and employability.
• Texas Tweaks Tuition Rule for Illegal Immigrants. Texas colleges must send illegal immigrants who pay in-state college tuition rates reminders that they promised to seek legal status in exchange, a tweak in state law officials unanimously approved.
• Reviewing Compliance of Online Degree Programs with the New Title IV Regulations. The Department of Education has issued final regulations addressing the integrity of programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act and partial regulations affecting programs focused on gainful employment. Understanding the new regulations is critical, given that the ED has the authority to withhold Title IV funding from postsecondary institutions that do not comply.
• Tougher Accrediting Standards for Schools of Education. The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation has announced the formation of a national commission on standards and performance reporting to come up with tougher accrediting standards for teacher education programs.
• THECB Legislative Priorities for the 83rd Texas Legislature. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's legislative recommendations include the following:
  1. Implement Outcomes-Based Funding (Base 10% of state funding on student outcomes): For community colleges, allocate funds based on institutions’ performance on “Student Success Points” – specific measures of student success and persistence, providing an equal weight for certificates, degrees, and transfers; 2. Decrease Time-to-Degree (cap the total number of hours for an associate’s degree to 60 semester credit hours from the current statewide average of 98 hours); 3. Restructure State Financial Aid (Restructure the TEXAS Grant program to expand to more new students). 
• Momentum Points. This document describes the Momentum Points (Student Success) model that is expected to be adopted by the legislature this session. Further changes may emerge during debate on the Bill. The basic premise is that 10% of our state funding will be impacted by our performance beginning in 2014. Chairman Branch has stated that he endorses a 25% impact. For perspective, a performance model is being adopted across the nation and Tennessee is at 100% performance. Alamo Colleges will need to adopt aggressive strategies to improve student success.
• Cost Efficiencies at Texas Colleges and Universities. This report is in response to a request to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board from the Texas Governor to follow up with public institutions of higher education on the progress that is being made to implement cost efficiencies. The information contained in this report summarizes the responses of 105 institutions regarding the cost efficiency initiatives or changes they have implemented on their campuses.
• Insurance Coverage for Colleges and Universities. In an era in which liability risks keep multiplying and natural disasters seem to have grown more intense, general counsels of colleges and universities should ensure that their existing liability policies cover the myriad complex liabilities and losses that they may face. This University Business article identifies three growing categories of claims colleges and universities should watch out for, the types of insurance that address them, and steps to maximize insurance recovery following a loss.
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• Governors' Group Examines State Regulation of Online Learning. Governors should work together to undertake a review of states' policies on online education, given the fast-changing state of the industry and the cost to states and institutions of regulation, the National Governors Association said in a policy brief. The paper lays out the landscape of state regulation of distance learning and suggests areas that a study might examine, including whether states would consider joining a multistate compact or reciprocity agreement for authorizing online programs.