The following Policy Guideline is designed to replace Informational Policy Guideline (IPM) 29, issued September 9, 1991.
Section 126.4(a) of the Commissioner’s Regulations states in part that "schools shall conduct only those curricula or courses which have been approved by the Commissioner, and shall conduct such curricula or courses in accordance with Section 5002(4) and (5) of the Education Law and this Part." A crucial element of the curriculum approval process is identifying the number of instructional hours for each curriculum or course. Each student who enrolls in a course or curriculum would then be required to complete those instructional hours in the approved curriculum as specified in the enrollment agreement.
However, there are certain situations which occur where students would be allowed to complete fewer instructional hours than specified in the curriculum or enrollment agreement, or where a student may have certain required courses waived and instead take elective courses to complete the total number of instructional hours. The aforementioned situations would be allowed under the following conditions:
- Transfer of Instructional Hours—Proprietary schools may allow students to transfer instructional hours from course or curricula taken at another postsecondary school which is licensed, registered, or accredited by state or federal authorities if the following guidelines are followed.
- Transfer of instructional hours is limited to the number of instructional hours successfully completed with a minimum of C.
- Transfer of instructional hours shall be limited to courses of like content and instructional hours.
- The receiving school must evaluate a student’s original/official transcript and a description of the course content in determining the acceptability of the transfer of instructional hours. The transcript and description must be filed in the student’s academic file.
- A student enrolled in a TAP-eligible program would not need to complete the full 1440 hours in the receiving school. However, the student must complete at least 1440 hours or total hours of the approved curriculum, if more, between both schools and must have completed the core requirements for the TAP-eligible curriculum. Students are only eligible for TAP payments at the receiving school for any full terms yet to be completed.
- When transferring instructional hours, a student’s enrollment agreement must be amended to reflect the total number of instructional hours for which the student has contracted. Also, the tuition and fees must be pro-rated so that the student only pays a proportional cost in relationship to the number of instructional hours s/he will receive.
- Advanced Standing—A school may award advanced standing to a student who has documented proficiency in one or more courses within the curriculum under the following conditions:
- A student awarded advanced standing must be evaluated using a written evaluation instrument to determine the student’s ability to master the instructional material in the course or courses in which the student has applied for advanced standing. The evaluation instrument along with the student’s results on the evaluation instrument must be included in the student’s academic permanent file.
- In those situations where advanced standing is being awarded to a student in a TAP-eligible program, the student still must complete the 1440 hours or more in order to be TAP eligible; therefore, a student must take electives to compensate for the courses, which were waived pursuant to advanced standing. Schools which submit TAP-eligible curricula for approval must include a sufficient number of electives so that any student awarded advanced standing may complete appropriate electives in order to fulfill the total number of instructional hours for approved TAP-eligible curricula.
- A student must meet the entrance requirements for the school in which s/he is seeking advanced standing.
In all cases, the provision for advanced standing and transfer of instructional hours must be included in a school’s catalog and be approved by the Bureau.