4.4 Program Length

Program length is appropriate for each of the institution’s educational programs.

  Compliance          ___  Partial Compliance          ___  Non-Compliance

Narrative:

South Louisiana Community College (SLCC) follows the guidelines established by the Louisiana Board of Regents for Higher Education (BoR) for certificates (1):

[BoR] respects the autonomy of our state's systems of higher education and their member institutions and entrusts them with decisions related to required number of credit hours for the various certificates outlined below. In making such decisions, critical issues such as specific industry certification requirements must be considered. As a general guideline, the number of hours required for the certificates…should not exceed one-half of the hours required for the subsequent degree…

SLCC’s Certificate of EMTP (2) includes all EMTP courses required for the National Registry Exam.  The Certificate of General Studies (3) is 30 credit hours which is half of the associate degree requirements.

Regarding associate degrees, according to the BoR (4):

The standard number of credits required for the Associate Degree will be 60. Given that the Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree is designed to prepare students to directly enter careers upon graduation, A.A.S. programs often require additional technical training; consequently, A.A.S. degree programs may range from 60-72 hours.

Currently, most of SLCC’s degree programs (5) are above the 60 hour requirement. However, the Curriculum Committee (6) has approved changes to all programs over 60 credit hours to be realigned with BoR requirements.  These changes will be sent to the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Board of Supervisors (LCTCS) and to BoR.  A Substantive Change letter will then be submitted to SACS before implementing the changes next academic year.

Students completing the EMTP programs have successfully passed the National Registry exam for licensing at 84 percent. (Source:  2009-2010 Annual Plan Report EMTP UP 3)

Documentation: