Evaluation and Revision of GRCC Graduation Requirements

Team co-chairs:Patti TrepkowskiJennifer Batten

Team MembersAnn Alexander (Business)Janice Balyeat (English)Frank Conner (Psychology)Bill Faber (SAS Dean’s Office)Elaine Kampmueller

(Physical Sciences)Laura Kennett (Exercise

Science)Mike Light (Social Sciences)Susan Mowers (English)

Oscar Neal (Mathematics)Diane Patrick (Registrar)Heather Richards (Social

Sciences)Shelly Richter (Nursing)Anna Rose (ISIS)Tamara Scott (Language and

Thought)Fred Zomer (Counseling and

Career Center)

Purpose of Evaluation and Revision:

to respond to end-of-year feedback provided by AGC membership

to better align GRCC graduation requirements with the new MTA requirements and the Curriculum Model

to ensure that the requirements are clear and meet the needs of all students

to evaluate the necessity and purpose of individual graduation elements

To be awarded an Associate’s degree at Grand Rapids Community College, students must:

Have completed at least 60 credits of course work.Have completed at least 15 credits of course work at GRCC.Have earned a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 in all course work

completed at GRCC.Have earned at least one Wellness (WE) credit. A maximum of two Wellness

credits may be applied towards any degree, unless they are specified as a program requirement.

Have earned credit for PS 110.Have earned at least six credits of English composition if seeking the A.A., A.S.,

A.F.A., A.M., A.N., and A.G.S degrees.Have earned credit for the appropriate general education Group Distribution

Requirements or the degree they are seeking.No courses below 100 level will be used toward graduation requirements,

including the minimum number of credits that need to be completed.

Results of AGC Table DiscussionsThe majority (6/8) of the tables supported removing PS 110 as a graduation

requirement with some citing that other courses would better align with their curriculum needs.

Two tables supported keeping the wellness requirement, while three tables suggested removing the wellness credit as a graduation requirement.

For the question regarding support of the new MTA that allows a communications course to replace a second semester of English composition the results follow: 2 tables asked for benchmarking or clarification, 5 tables supported the MTA requirements (2 want business communications as an option), and 2 tables supported keeping the 2 semesters of English composition.

There were no suggestions made for additional graduation requirements.There were many requests for benchmarking the Graduation Requirements

at both peer community Colleges and at our 4-year transfer partners.

Community College Benchmarking(based mainly on 2014/2015 catalogs)

The Team complied the Graduation Requirement information for 16 Michigan Community Colleges and FSU’s AA programs6 have wellness or PE requirements (3 require 2 credits)6 require a government type course3 require 1 semester of composition, 12 require 2 semesters of

composition, and 2 have adopted the MTA requirements6 require a communications course and 4 require a computer

literacy courseAll require 60-63 credits and a minimum GPA of 2.0Most have a minimal institutional credit policy, but these vary5 have adopted the MTA requirements for social sciences,

humanities, math, and natural sciences as graduation requirements

Transfer Institution BenchmarkingInstitution English Comp Communications Wellness Government Comments

FSU 6 credits 3 credits none Not Specified Advanced English or Speech required General Education requirements seem to meet

MTA plus 2 higher level courses under Cultural Enrichment and Social Awareness

GVSU 1 course none Not Specified 2 supplemental writing skills courses required Follows MTA plus one Arts Course

CMU 3-6 credits(test out option)

3 credits none Not Specified Advanced writing courses required (total 18-21 hours)

Reflects both MACRAO and MTA for transfer students

WMU 1 or 2 courses (students may test out of 1st comp. course)

required Not Specified Advance programmatic writing skills required General Education requirements seem to meet

MTA plus 2 higher level courses

EMU Composition II required (students may test out of 1st comp. course )

3 credits none Not Specified Majors have specific required writing intensive courses

Basically follows MTA plus Global Awareness and US Diversity courses required

MSU 4 credits required (CC sequence meets requirement)

none Not Specified Additional upper level writing course required Basically follows MTA

Team’s Guiding PrinciplesGRCC’s Graduation Requirements should:

align with transfer institution requirementsalign with MTA requirementsgive students and programs flexibilityalign with program accreditation requirementssupport GRCC ILOs and Valuesallow for efficiency and enhance graduation rates

GRCC Facts During the 2011 fall semester, 2,251 first-time, full-time, certificate or degree-seeking

undergraduate students entered Grand Rapids Community College and after 3 years (as of August 31, 2014,) 13% (292) of these students had been granted a degree or certificate from our institution and 24.0% (531) had transferred to other institutions of higher education.

Of all students attending GRCC in 2013/2014, 7.8% (1926) graduated. Of all students attending GRCC in 2008/2009, 53.3% have successfully transferred or

graduated. Reverse transfer rates as of 10/17/2014 showed that 343 applications were received. Of

these applications, 165 were denied with 27 missing only a Wellness class and 11 missing only PS 110. Four students were missing only EN 102. In all, 47 degrees were not conferred based on these course graduation requirements.

https://www.grcc.edu/sites/default/files/docs/compliance/student_outcomes_update.pdfnthttp://cms.grcc.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/GRCC%20Indicator%20Report%20-March%202015%20DRAFT.pdfData Source: Student Records/Registrar Office as of 10/17/2014 –ddp

Questions to be Addressed by the Team

Should PS 110 remain as a graduation requirement?Should all students be required to take a Wellness course

to graduate?Should all students be required to take 6 credits of

English composition in order to graduate?

Process TimelineThe Team will meet during Summer 2015 and will develop a proposal.The proposed Graduation Requirements will be presented at the

September 2015 AGC meeting and feedback will be collected.The Team will consider feedback and will adjust proposal as needed. A

vote will take place at the October 2015 AGC Meeting. If changes to the policy are proposed, then passed by AGC and accepted

by the Provost, the policy updates will go into effect for the 2016/2017 catalog.

Next Steps

Discuss the College’s Graduation Requirements with your departments.

Please send any feedback to Patti Trepkowski (ptrepkowski@grcc.edu) and Jennifer Batten (jbatten@grcc.edu) by May 8th.