The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will finalize in November "teach-out" plans for students whose academic programs will soon be cut, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Erin Finzer told the university faculty senate on Friday.
The university will then send the plans and other materials to the university's accrediting agency for evaluation. Under a federal rule finalized this summer, accrediting agency evaluation of the teach-out process and documents is now required.
Teach-out plans are written for students trying to finish degree programs that are about to be cut, and they are designed to help the student graduate with their preferred degree either at their original institution or by transferring to a new one.
UALR entered academic retrenchment this spring, eliminating several programs that enrolled several dozen students. It was the result of years of simultaneous revenue and enrollment declines and new leadership determined to "right size" the university.
Twelve UALR faculty positions will be cut, along with the programs, after the spring 2021 semester. They may be contracted temporarily afterward to help teach out their programs to the remaining students.
Academic programs cut by UALR this spring will have set end dates in the next few years. The teach-out plans detail a schedule for students to take the remaining courses with those end dates in mind. For students who may not finish in time, the plans include potential transfer options.
Many of the cut programs will be relatively simple to teach out at UALR because they involve courses across disciplines that will still be offered and still have faculty, Finzer said.
But programs like the Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance and some education doctoral programs have many students at widely varying stages of completing their degrees.
The university doesn't have an appeal process in place for students who haven't completed their dissertations in time, but Finzer said that could be open for discussion.
Faculty senate President Amanda Nolen encouraged Finzer to consider a process to avoid pulling the rug out from under students.
"I think that would be in our best interest, as well as the students'," Nolen said.
One student in the soon-to-be-eliminated educational doctoral program for higher education leadership asked Finzer to hold a forum for students concerned about differences in their plans from their peers' plans. He said communication has been inconsistent and students have been struggling through the teach-out plan process, as well.
The Higher Learning Commission must evaluate the teach-out plans to determine whether UALR has met the requirements of identifying all affected students and programs and identifying potential transfer options to complete their desired degree.
UALR will provide the commission with the plans, details and a timeline of how each student will finish their degree, potential transfer options and all communications with students.
So far, faculty have been forming teach-out plans but the university doesn't have formal agreements with other universities for UALR students to transfer into, Finzer said. Even without agreements, the university has identified universities students can transfer to next year, she said, and the university is footing the bill for students to apply to those schools.
The retrenchment process is one of the biggest endeavors in cost-cutting undertaken by the university in the past year. During that time, the university also has consolidated its five academic colleges into three, reducing administrative tasks and costs.
Chancellor Christina Drale also discussed Friday future plans for the university's budget process. It will have a formal budgeting process that will begin earlier than it had been, allowing for adjustments leading up to University of Arkansas System trustees' approval.
University officials also will analyze the difference in money spent versus money budgeted in prior years to identify areas that have consistently spent less than they were budgeted. That will help the administration reconsider whether as much funding needs to be dedicated to those areas in the future.
It will be a lengthy process, Drale said, and it will account for the unusual spending habits of the fiscal years affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The budget process also will include the Institutional Effectiveness Committee, which evaluates every university department and program. The committee was created by previous Chancellor Andrew Rogerson, whom Drale replaced after he resigned following millions of dollars lost because of lower-than-expected enrollment.
The faculty senate supported Drale's proposal to make the committee part of the university's constitution, and the University Assembly will consider that proposal for a final vote in April.