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News

Course hour limits take effect next fall

by JESSICA ROBERTSON
Senior Staff Writer

Beginning in the fall, a new state law will impose out-of-state tuition on residents who attempt a course three times. The legislature has also created an enrollment cap on in-state credit hours a student may pursue outside of his or her degree plan.

The state legislature is taking these measures to promote timely graduation by discouraging students from taking excess course hours and to ensure that state tax dollars are not wasted, Provost Donald Foss said.

"The Texas Legislature makes a significant investment of state tax dollars in the courses students take, on top of the tuition and fees paid by the students," Foss said. "The extent to which a university is successful in graduating students on time is a nationally recognized measure of academic excellence."

Resident students who attempt the same course for a third time since Fall 2002 will be charged out-of-state tuition. Thesis, dissertation, independent study, special topics and seminar courses are exempt from the cap.

Attempted credit hours will be calculated for courses in which students are enrolled on the University's official reporting day, approximately two weeks after the beginning of fall and spring semesters and one week after the beginning of summer semesters.

Both completed and dropped courses will count toward the cap after the reporting day under the new legislation. Students planning to drop courses this semester should do so before the end of the official reporting day, Jan. 30, to avoid having those courses count in their total number of attempted hours, Foss said.

UH administrators anticipate that fewer students will drop classes once the legislation is effective, Foss said.

"Students at UH often have work and family responsibilities," Foss said. "It is sometimes necessary for them to drop courses or extend their time to (graduate) in order to meet these obligations, (but) it is important for students to graduate on time and with as few excess course hours as possible."

Another law limits the number of credit hours residents can attempt outside their degree plans while paying in-state tuition. Undergraduate Texas residents who enrolled for the first time in any state public institution of higher education in Fall 1999 or later will be subject to the cap. Students enrolled for the first time before Fall 2006 will be charged out-of-state tuition if they attempt 45 or more semester credit hours beyond the hours required to complete their degree. For students who enroll for the first time in Fall 2006 or after, the enrollment cap is reduced to 30 hours.

Many students said the legislation could negatively affect the variety of courses they would be able to take.

"You're in college to learn and try new things," business sophomore Madeline Mohr said. "Taking new classes is how you get interested in new things."
 

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