Higher Ed Utah

(Benjamin Wood, Deseret News) — Lawmakers voted Monday to exempt technology-intensive courses and low-income students from a bill that would allow high school students to be charged for concurrent enrollment credit.

Sen. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, sponsored SB284, which permits the State Office of Education and State Board of Regents to charge students up to $30 per credit hour of college credit earned through concurrent enrollment courses. Those credits are currently offered free of charge to Utah high school students.

“Concurrent enrollment is fabulous, it’s doing great things,” Urquhart said. “We want to make sure we don’t damage it.”

Urquhart said that under the terms of the bill, concurrent enrollment courses would continue to be offered free as part of a public education curriculum, but students would be required to pay a fee to receive college credit. That fee would be paid directly to the colleges and universities that offer the credit.

Urquhart introduced an amendment Monday that would exempt students who qualify for free and reduced lunch as well as removing the fee for credits earned from technology-intensive concurrent enrollment, or TICE, courses. That amendment was passed by the Senate.

The bill does not specify the amount of fee but rather instructs the Board of Regents to determine the appropriate cost of college credit for high school students, not to exceed $30 per credit hour. Urquhart said that the practice of offering the credit for free places the burden of cost on current college students. More…