UAM's credits for teens disputed

Enrollment taking hit, PB college says

A Pine Bluff-area community college has complained to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board that a four-year university offering concurrent enrollment at a nearby high school has encroached on its service area and created friction in the community.

Stephen Hilterbran, president of Southeast Arkansas College, said enrollment at his institution has dropped since the University of Arkansas at Monticello began offering classes for college credit at White Hall High School.

The loss of credit hours has affected how much funding the community college gets from the state, Hilterbran said.

"When a four-year university or other institution takes over education in the community, it hurts those local community colleges," Hilterbran said. "It divides the community ... This is about increasing enrollment at one institution at the expense of another institution simply because you can."

UA-Monticello Chancellor H. Jack Lassiter said that as long as the White Hall School District is happy with its services, the university will continue to provide concurrent enrollment.

Lassiter said that because the school district invited him to offer classes beginning in the 2012-13 school year, he doesn't think he has done anything wrong.

"We're not out campaigning and recruiting school districts," he said. "We're not going more than an hour outside of our campus."

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is closer to White Hall High School than UA-Monticello, but it hasn't been approved to provide college courses on high school campuses until July.

Hilterbran asked the board to stop UA-Monticello from offering concurrent enrollment, which allows students to earn credit for their high school diploma while gaining college credit at the same time.

While high schools in Arkansas have been offering concurrent enrollment since 1998, the Higher Education Coordinating Board has updated its policy frequently to better regulate the initiative.

But the policy intentionally does not include service area designations, which could have limited where institutions offered concurrent enrollment, coordinating board member Sarah Argue told Hilterbran at a July meeting.

"While you are concerned about enrollment in terms of dollars, I am concerned about students getting the best classes in their school district," Argue said.

"I was raised in America and I'm a capitalist, and you're gonna have a hard time really swallowing that we want to block out competition for the best here?"

In response, Hilterbran pointed to an existing policy about off-campus instruction that requires the Arkansas Department of Higher Education to intervene when an institution 30 miles away offers services in the same area.

The 2001 policy settled a conflict between Black River Technical College and Arkansas State University as to whether the former could offer freshman and sophomore courses in the Paragould School District.

Based on that policy, disagreements that cannot be resolved between institutions will be reviewed either by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education staff or the coordinating board.

At July's meeting, board members were unsure as to whether the 2001 policy applied, as it specifically dealt with off-campus instruction, not concurrent enrollment.

Kaneaster Hodges, who had been the longest-serving member of the board before his term ended, said the 2001 dispute involved complaints from both parties, but only one institution has complained in the concurrent enrollment issue.

White Hall Superintendent Larry Smith said he invited UA-Monticello to teach concurrent enrollment classes after a paperwork mishap with Southeast Arkansas College led to some students not receiving the credit hours they had signed up for.

Parents had also complained that concurrent credit from Southeast Arkansas College is not easily transferable to other institutions, Smith said.

Last year, only the university taught classes, but this year both institutions are authorized to teach, he said.

In all, about 40 hours of concurrent enrollment is offered at White Hall in many subjects, including fine arts and world history.

"We're gonna do what's in the best interest for our kids and make opportunities open to them -- bottom line," Smith said of the dispute. "As long as there's a match between UAM and SEARK, we're going to stay out of that."

Several school districts across the state use multiple institutions to offer concurrent enrollment, said Higher Education Department Director Shane Broadway.

Broadway said he's getting the concurrent credit group together to discuss the issue. In the meantime, UA-Monticello isn't breaking any rules, he said.

Metro on 09/01/2014

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