State mandates reallocate remedial courses

After the spring 2013 semester, students will no longer be able to take remedial courses at PUC as a result of mandates changed by the state of Indiana.

“The Indiana Commission on Higher Education mandated that Indiana’s state [universities] not offer remedial courses,” Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Ralph Rogers said.     

Rogers said most of PUC’s remedial courses are high school level math and writing courses, though sometimes courses are at set at the elementary or middle school levels. Additionally, remedial courses, which are identified as zero level courses, do not carry credits toward graduation. Students who need to take remedial courses must take them at Ivy Tech and then transfer them to PUC.           

“The state of Indiana decided in the early 2000s to structure public higher education to include a two-year community college system. To accomplish this, they chose to change the mandate for Ivy Tech Community College to include offering associate degrees which would articulate to the state’s four-year public universities,” Math, Computer Science and Statistics Department Head Catherine Murphy, department head of math, computer science and statistics, said.

“To maintain broad access to higher education in the state, the change included the requirement that by 2014 all remedial education would be offered through Ivy Tech Community College,” Murphy said.                               

In addition to the traditional lecture, remedial classes have other components such as online, lab and group work, depending on what is most effective for the class.

Rogers said in the past, PUC worked with Ivy Tech to offer some of Ivy Tech’s remedial classes on the PUC campus.

“[Students] used to qualify to get in these courses by the courses they took or didn't take in high school, through ACT/SAT test scores and placement testing when they were admitted,” Rogers said.   

 Murphy said most of the math and English remedial courses have already transferred from PUC to Ivy Tech. She said the last course, Beginning Algebra, will be transferred to Ivy Tech in May 2013.        

“Ivy Tech has worked closely with the state’s four-year universities to ensure that students who earn an associate degree at Ivy Tech are prepared to be successful when they attend a public four-year university to earn a bachelor’s degree,” Murphy said. “I believe the state’s current structure for higher education benefits the citizens of Indiana in providing opportunities for access to and successful completion of a college degree.”