Legal Status of NA Degrees in Texas

What is the current position of the State of Texas regarding the use of NA bachelor degrees? According to the state website, it seems these degrees are still considered substandard and possibly illegal. Until recently California Coast was on their list.

www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1254.PDF

www.thecb.state.tx.us/AAR/PrivateInstitutions/NoTX.cfm

 

They have a list of accepted NA degrees here
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/AAR/PrivateInstitutions/career_schools.cfm

Unfortunately, my BS degree from ITT still seems to be illegal though they have told me it isn't.

 

Does anyone else think it odd that the only NA degrees on the "legal" list are issued by Texas schools? What a crock of ****.


Pug

 

I just went back and read the definition of "fraudulent or substandard" degrees as written on their site. I am not so sure that NA degrees would be considered fraudulent, particularly those issued from out of state or country, though they are likely considered substandard.

I don't think this is a much different from many other states though. My home state, Maryland, does not attempt to pry into the private sector of the workforce, but NA degrees are not suitable for state jobs, including teaching positions. Maryland has clearly deemed NA degrees as being substandard.

Pug

 

It seems quite clear that that is exactly the situation in Texas, regardless of whether we like it or not.

 

I have not had time to keep up with this issue lately. I do know there is legislation that will be passed into law that will allow accreditors such as DETC to be recognized in Texas. Here is a snippet of an email:

"This good news comes on the heels of the Texas law being amended ( the new law took effect Jan 24th, 2008) and the door is opened for DETC to gain Texas recognition".

If you want more specifics, you can email The Director of DETC Michael Lambert at [email protected]

He will get right back to you. I imagine things will be changing within the next few months.


Abner

 

I wonder if this will also open the door to other national accreditors like ABHE, TRACS, ACICS, etc.

 

I would imagine so. Send Mike at DETC an email, he is one of the nicest guys, and always responds to email almost immediately.

Abner

 

I can't believe that Texans could be so delusional as to think that degrees from institutions in other countries, say England, Japan, Singapore, or even South Korea, would be "substandard" in comparison with American degrees... That would be a big joke.

 

There is considerably more to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's view on NA schools than initially meets the eye.

"Exemplary Programs" - ITT is listed 2x, while Le Cordon Bleu has been recognized once.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page and you'll see both ACICS and ACCSCT listed. Please also note the controversial ICR listed just below those entries.

As far as foreign degrees are concerned, I personally know of at least two Texas Education Agency employees who hold degrees that were earned outside the USA. When I worked under contract for TEA, we actively recruited degreed consultants directly from Mexico. In other words, foreign degrees are usually acceptable for state government work here.

Judging from the Cal Coast debacle, I can see why many are upset with THECB. But the notion equating Lone Star to some diabolical, protectionist monster is simply unfair. The DETC omission likely stems from errors committed by junior staff at THECB which, based on my knowledge about a few people there, is understandable. Virginia College, ITT, and Le Cordon Bleu all operate in my area without any problems. During the week, one usually finds parking lots at those campuses filled with cars used to carry students in their quest for $37K+ AAS degrees.

 

Take a good look at the list of NA degrees that are acceptable for use in Texas www.thecb.state.tx.us/AAR/PrivateInstitutions/career_schools.cfm and you will find that the NA schools whose degrees are acceptable for use in Texas are all based in Texas. Now take a good look at the list of schools whose degrees are illegal for use in Texas www.thecb.state.tx.us/PrivateInstitutions/NoTX.cfm and you will find that the degrees of California University of Management and Sciences www.calums.edu are illegal for use in the state of Texas, even though this school is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools www.acics.org , which in turn is recognized by both the United States Department of Education www.ed.gov and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation www.chea.org .

 

This was exactly my point in an earlier post. There seems to be something very wrong here.

Pug

 

Ted, I took at good look at those lists. To begin with the first list, Everest College (Corinthian Colleges, Inc., BASED in Santa Ana, CA), ITT Technical Institute (BASED in Carmel, IN), Sanford Brown (Career Education Corporation, BASED in Hoffman Estates, IL) Virginia College (Education Corporation of America, BASED in Birmingham, AL), Westwood College (Alta College, Inc., BASED in Denver, CO) are all merely satellite campuses of parent institutions. These schools are not "based" in Texas. I'm also reasonably certain that Remington College headquarters is not located inside the state. Yet after searching the school web page, I was unable to find where Remington is based. However, to imply that "NA schools whose degrees are acceptable for use in Texas are all based in Texas" is, in my opinion, incorrect.

Next, kindly look at the title of the page in your first link.

"Private Career Schools Authorized to offer Associate of Applied Degrees"

To me, there exists a difference between "authorized to offer" and "acceptable for use".

Thirdly, CalUMS was granted ACICS accreditation in April, 2006, according to this page on the school website. As I previously alluded, it's easy to see how THECB erred regarding accreditation. In my opinion, CalUMS was an unaccredited institution until two years ago. THECB likely viewed the school in the same respect when the list was comprised and then subject to further update. If CalUMS feels strongly enough about their standing on the TX illegal institutions page, then why hasn't the school itself petitioned for removal? Or why hasn't ACICS pointed out the erroneous entry? I'm convinced this case results from nothing more than miscommunication.

Lastly, and I'm not trying to introduce a straw man here, but Lone Star is hardly alone in terms of post-secondary regulation. Since criticizing various "nanny states" for authorizing institutional operation within their respective jurisdictions appears in vogue, for future reference, please refer to Tennessee, for example, as well. A series of bills were recently introduced in Volunteer Land requiring much more disclosure and regulation than that which currently exists in Lone Star.

 

Remington College (Education America, Inc.) is based in Little Rock, AR.

 

Well, I cannot elaborate too much on this issue. I will say many of these issues will be moot sometime this year. Some of these issues did not arise from a "diabolical plot", as FLA ex pat puts it. The Texas CB has based the term "Recognized" to mean recognized by the Texas CB. The author of the bill tied to this language used the term "recognized" in the context of US DOE and CHEA recognition, as it should be. Someone at some point (possibly copying Oregon) at the Texas CB improperly decided to pick and choose among recognized accreditors and make it policy.

Don't fret too much gents, things will be changing soon.

Abner

 

Then change "based in" to "have a location in."