College Completion Initiatives Implementation of the College and Career Readiness and College Completion Act of 2013 (SB740) December 1, 2015

College Completion Goal At least 55% of the State’s residents age 25 to 64 years old will hold at least an associate’s degree by 2025. The College and Career Readiness and College Completion Act of 2013 (SB740) codified this goal. This would be a 10.6 percentage point increase or 24% increase from 2009 when 44.4% of individuals between 25 to 64 years old held an associate’s degree or higher. Institutions will need to award approximately 51,000 degrees annually to meet the goal.

Progress Toward Maryland’s 55% College Completion Goal The target is lower in 2025 than it was in 2009 and 2014 (not shown on the slide anymore) due to an anticipated number of individuals already possessing degrees who move into Maryland. Note: Four-year institutions include Associates degrees awarded to active military by the University of Maryland University College. Source: Maryland Higher Education Commission, Data Book 2010 and 2015

College Completion Goal (cont’d) Maryland ranks eighth in the nation for degree completion, with 46% of 25 to 64 year olds having at least an associate’s degree in 2013. However, four of Maryland’s ten competitor states (Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Virginia) have a higher rate. In developing an effective statewide framework for higher education funding, the Commission to Develop the Maryland Model for Funding Higher Education recommended that funding be based on the funding level of peer institutions in 10 states that Maryland competes with for business and jobs as determined by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, now known as the Department of Economic Competitiveness and Commerce. Competitor states include California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.

Higher Education Elements of Senate Bill 740 Dual Enrollment Opportunities Degree Plans and Pathways and Academic Advising Statewide Transfer and Reverse Transfer Agreements Statewide Communication Plan for Near Completers Although the College and Career Readiness and College Completion Act of 2013 (SB 740) contained initiatives at the k-12 level as well as the higher education level, this briefing will only address the higher education level elements of the legislation.

Dual Enrollment: Tuition and Costs The Act established tuition arrangements between county boards of education and public institutions of higher education; mainly community colleges. Tuition and fee requirements from the Act and MOU executed between each local school system and the local community college: an institution may not charge a Dual Enrollment (DE) student tuition; a local school system must pay the institution a percentage of tuition, based on the number of courses the student takes; a local school system may charge a DE student a fee of up to 90% of covered costs, after consideration of a student’s ability to pay; and a local school system may not charge a fee to students who are eligible to receive free and reduced-price meals (FRPM). Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) reports that many institutions have: discounted tuition for DE students beyond the statutory requirements; and sought private and community funding to pay for books and associated course fees for FRPM students.

Dually Enrolled Students at Community Colleges in the State 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 Academic Years Colleges Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 Spring 2015 % Change Fall 2013-14 % Change Spring 2014-15 Allegany College of Maryland 47 52 125 134 166% 158% Anne Arundel Community College 595 377 586 425 -2% 13% Baltimore City Community College 26 1 33 NA 27% Carroll Community College 114 140 108 143 -5% 2% Cecil College 123 102 133 160 8% 57% Chesapeake College 227 188 268 217 18% 15% College of Southern Maryland 168 473 202 607 20% 28% Community College of Baltimore County 685 742 654 Frederick Community College 564 601 854 535 51% -11% Garrett College 32 34 28 3% -18% Hagerstown Community College 658 516 618 588 -6% 14% Harford Community College 157 153 60 68 -62% -56% Howard Community College 82 75 99 90 21% Montgomery College 391 405 475 442 9% Prince George’s Community College 323 334 674 699 109% Wor-Wic Community College 142 126 183 190 29% Total 4,308 4,209 5,161 5,013 19%   Source: Maryland Association of Community Colleges

Dual Enrollment: Challenges MHEC identified several challenges to be addressed: coordination of a statewide dual enrollment outreach campaign to make all students and parents aware of dual enrollment opportunities; determine whether college credit should be equivalent to high school advanced placement courses; determine whether college courses taught on a high school campus should be accepted at other institutions for postsecondary credit; and determine whether non-credit certification courses that are part of a Career and Technical Education (CTE) curriculum should be included in a dual enrollment program.

Degree Plans and Pathways and Academic Advising Requirements: student enrolled in a public four-year institution must file a degree plan with the institution before earning 45 credits; transfer students with at least 45 credits must submit the plan during their first semester; degree-seeking student at community college must submit plan on entering the institution; and plans must be developed in consultation with an academic adviser in the student’s degree program, if available, or with any of the institution’s academic advisers. Implementation: All two- and four-year institutions have implemented advising practices and systems incorporating degree completion plans for all students. Most institutions are moving towards providing electronic degree planning systems that allow students to plan and maintain their plans with the college student information data system.

Degree Plans and Pathways and Academic Advising (cont’d) Degree Pathways Requirements: development of a pathway system with graduation progress benchmarks by institution; benchmarks specify the credit and course criteria that indicate satisfactory progress to a degree; first-time degree-seeking students required to take credit-bearing mathematics and English general education courses within the first 24 credit hours of study; and students in danger of falling behind required to consult with an academic adviser. Implementation: All institutions have developed degree pathways and a majority have implemented online systems for students, along with electronic degree audit systems that track and monitor student progress. Institutions providing training for faculty and staff advisors and use of tools.

Statewide Transfer Agreements The Act set a State goal that community college students earn an associate’s degree before transferring to a four-year institution: The Act requires MHEC to develop and implement a statewide transfer agreement by July 1, 2016. The statewide transfer agreement must allow for at least 60 credits of general education, elective, and major courses that a student earns at a community college in the State to be transferrable to any public four-year institution in the State toward a bachelor’s degree. In addition to establishing a State goal that community college students earn an AA before transferring, the Act requires the MHEC to develop and implement a statewide transfer agreement whereby at least 60 credits of general education, elective, and major courses that a student earns at a community college is transferable to any public four-year institution in the State toward a bachelor’s degree. While current regulations allow students to transfer general education courses across all public two- and four-year institutions without the need for course-by-course review, it does not include elective or courses related to a major, with a few exceptions (i.e. the Associate of Arts in Teaching degree and the Associate of Science in Engineering degree). MHEC is working with various constituent groups on developing a statewide transfer agreement by July 1, 2016, that will maximize the number of community college credits that can be transferred and applied toward the completion of a bachelor’s degree.

Articulation of Credits Maryland’s online articulation data system (ARTSYS), which currently communicates the transferability of courses among the segments of higher education, is owned and operated by the University System of Maryland (USM). Under the Act, the Segmental Advisory Council (SAC) of MHEC must review ARTSYS and report regarding potential improvements, the feasibility of other articulation data systems, and if recommending the adoption of an alternative system, the cost and schedule of implementation of an alternative system. In October, 2014, a report coordinated by MHEC (under the auspices of the Student Transfer Advisory Committee) and USM recommended that Maryland continue to use ARTSYS rather than an alternative system and that ARTSYS be expanded and enhanced. This same workgroup is currently examining: an analysis of gaps and deficiencies in the articulation of academic course equivalencies; and an expansion of policies and practices to maximize degree credit transferability in a cost- and time-efficient manner. Course articulation is the process of comparing the content of courses from institution to institution. In Maryland, the online communication of this process is conducted by a system called ARTSYS, which is owned and operated by the USM. Approximately $100,000 was estimated to be needed to support tow-year to two-year articulation, as wall as to fully implement reverse transfer articulation. Teri Hollander will talk about this further in her remarks.

Community College Transfer Students 2012-2013 Data Among 145,085 students enrolled in community colleges in 2012, 12,205 (8%) transferred the following year. Of these transfer students, 9,875 (81%) transferred to a public four-year institution in Maryland. Among approximately 150,000 students enrolled in community colleges in 2012, 8% (approximately 12,000 students) transferred the following year. Of these transfers, 81% (approx. 10,000 students) transferred to a four-year public. Regarding public four-year transfer students: (1) Among 120,166 students enrolled in public four-year institutions in 2012, 3,789 (3%) transferred the following year; and (2) Of these transfer students, 1,504 (40%) transferred to another public four-year institution in Maryland.

Transfers from Community Colleges to Public Four-year Institutions 2009 Compared To 2013 The portion of transfer students comprising fall enrollment at the four-year institutions grew from 8,902 students in 2009 to 11,497 students in 2013. This was an increase of 28.9% (2,577 students) over 2009. Is this FTE (combination of full-time and part-time) or Fall first time full time?

Transfers Received by Public Four-year Institutions from Community Colleges 2009 Compared To 2013 Top four receiving institutions are: Towson, UMCP, UMUC, and UMBC. Source: Maryland Higher Education Commission

Reverse Transfer Agreements Reverse transfer is available to a student in good academic standing who completes at least 15 credits at a community college, then transfers to a Maryland four-year institution prior to attaining a degree. Students may then transfer additional credits earned at the four-year institution back to the community college where the student was previously enrolled to earn the associate’s degree. The Act requires MHEC to develop and implement a statewide reverse transfer agreement, whereby at least 30 credits that a student earns at a public four-year institution toward a bachelor’s degree are transferrable to any community college in the State, by July 1, 2016.

Reverse Transfer Agreements (cont’d) Maryland’s reverse transfer program began in 2012, while being piloted as the Associate Degree Award for Pre-Degree Transfer Students and focused on community colleges. The program was expanded in 2013 with support through the national Credit When It’s Due (CWID) initiative to include four-year institutions. Since the initial pilot in 2012, over 800 reverse transfer degrees have been awarded. Twelve Maryland institutions currently have CWID sub-grants. 12 CWID subgrantees: AACC; College of Southern Maryland; CCBC; Harford Community College; Howard Community College; Morgan; Notre Dame; PGCC; UB; UMCP; UMBC; and Wor-Wic Community College. The CWID program was expanded to four-year institutions in 2013 recognizing the role these institutions play in reaching out to post-transfer students, encouraging program participation, and articulating student credit and programs back to community colleges.

Financial Incentives for Transfer Students The Act requires MHEC and each public institution of higher education in the State to create incentives for students to obtain an associate’s degree before transferring. Chapter 339 of 2014 established the 2+2 Transfer Scholarship for those students who complete a degree before transferring to a four-year institution. The scholarship provides an annual award of $2,000 for students enrolled in a STEM major or nursing program, and $1,000 for other majors. The amount of scholarships made available during the Fall of 2015 will be $200,000. Other financial incentives are decentralized at institutions of higher education: Morgan State University (Parren J, Mitchell Honors Scholarship and Transfer Incentive Program); Coppin; Frostburg; UMUC (Completion Scholarship); UMBC (Transfer Student Alliance); and UMCP (Transfer Advantage Program). For more info. regarding decentralized financial incentives, see pp. 14-16 of the MHEC P-20 June 2015 report.

Near Completers In collaboration with institutions of higher education, the Act required MHEC to create a statewide communication campaign to identify near completers and encourage them to reenroll to earn a degree. Further, MHEC is required to focus on near completers who earned a minimum GPA of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale and earned at least 45 credits at a community college or at least 90 credits at a public four-year institution, before leaving the institution. The communication campaign is required to: make use of a variety of marketing media, such as billboards, brochures, and electronic resources; provide a centralized contact point for near completers to get information about and assistance with reenrolling; and make contact information for each institution readily available. MHEC was also required to develop and implement a plan that would provide an incentive to near completers to reenroll and to institutions to identify and graduate near completers. Near completers are students who have accumulated a significant number of credits needed to earn a degree, but have left the institution prior to completion for various reasons. The Act requires MHEC to create a statewide communication campaign that targets near completers who earned a 2.0 GPA and earned at least 45 credits at a cc or 90 credits at a public four-year.

Near Completers: One Step Away Grant Program The One Step Away grant program, which predates the Act, authorizes MHEC, in collaboration with the Motor Vehicle Administration, to work with institutions to help identify and contact near completers. Through this program, MHEC provides sub-grants to institutions for targeted initiatives to encourage near completers to reenroll and graduate. The most recent round of grants was awarded in July 2014 for a 24 month period. Institutions may be awarded up to $75,000 and must provide in-kind or matching funds in an amount equal to at least one-third of the total project cost. Since fiscal 2013, grantees (15 institutions) identified 5,489 near completers, re-enrolled 452 of these individuals, and awarded 223 associate’s and bachelor’s degrees. One Step Away grantees (15): AACC; Bowie; Carroll Community College; College of Southern Maryland; Coppin; Frostburg; Hagerstown Community College; Harford Community College; Montgomery College; Morgan; Notre Dame; UMES; UMUC; Washington Adventist; and Wor-Wic Community College.

Near Completers (cont’d) In its December, 2013, report, MHEC suggested the following costs for implementation of the near completer communication campaign: FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 2 Contractual Grant Funded Positions Conversion to 2 Regular Positions* $120,000 $123,600 $127,308 Communication Campaign $750,000 Incentive (to include OSA) $1,000,000 OSA: One Step Away Grant Program *3% increase each year These costs compare with Indiana’s “Return and Complete” program (which is NOT decentralized and more closely tracks what was intended in SB 740) as follows: $50,000 for the creative and $200,000 for the contract (mail, email, and outbound calls, as well as the online “match” application and a data update process to get current address info); no new staffer, but the staffer handling it is stretched and they recommend at least a part-time staffer for the role; additional $150,000 to scale up the direct outreach effort; and $200,000 to $500,000 to bolster the outreach effort with targeted paid media. Queried Sarah Ancel (11/25) re: how much money Indiana actually provided for financial aid or other economic incentives.

Near Completers (cont’d) MHEC has received $250,000 annually in State funds to implement One Step Away, but has not received any funding to carry out other aspects of the near completer communication campaign. Therefore, the identification and outreach to near completers remains decentralized in Maryland, contrary to the legislative intent of the campaign.