Digest of Bills - 1995

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EDUCATION ­ UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

S.B. 95-49 Nursing scholarship program - continuation. Continues the Colorado nursing scholarship program for 5 additional years to July 1, 2000.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 1995
EFFECTIVE March 31, 1995

S.B. 95-107 Auraria higher education center - board of directors - membership. Allows the chief executive officers of the governing bodies of the institutions located at the Auraria higher education center to appoint the chief executive officers of the institutions to sit as their designees on the Auraria higher education center board of directors.

APPROVED by Governor April 21, 1995
EFFECTIVE April 21, 1995

S.B. 95-229 Student loan division - enterprise designation. Extends the enterprise designation of the student loan division in the department of higher education to June 30, 2000.

APPROVED by Governor May 23, 1995
EFFECTIVE May 23, 1995

H.B. 95-1098 Colorado commission on higher education - reporting and rule requirements. Requires the Colorado commission on higher education to report to the governor and the general assembly each even-numbered year, rather than annually, on interstate agreements allowing waivers of nonresident tuition for postgraduate or professional students.

        Directs the Colorado commission on higher education to report to the general assembly on changes in the specific admission requirements for first-time freshmen and transfer students as the changes occur, rather than in annual reports, for each campus and institution of higher education.

        Requires the state controller to consult with the Colorado commission on higher education before adopting, amending, or repealing rules that affect or create reporting requirements for state-supported institutions of higher education.

        Requires each state-supported institution of higher education to submit a list of endowments, gifts, and bequests the institution receives to the governor and the general assembly each odd-numbered year, rather than annually.

APPROVED by Governor March 17, 1995
EFFECTIVE January 1, 1996

H.B. 95-1196 Institutions of higher education - 5 policy areas for additional funding - reconsideration of policy areas - admission criteria - addition of community college - exemption of faculty from post-employment compensation limits. Establishes the following 5 higher education policy areas for additional funding for fiscal year 1995-96:

•  Linking K-12 and higher education: Continued from fiscal year 1994-95 with the following changes:



• Replaces the parameter concerning programs to develop content standards at the postsecondary level with consideration of programs to support systemic reform in K-12 education;
•   Adds consideration of faculty-to-faculty exchanges and coordination of curriculum between secondary and postsecondary schools;
•   Adds consideration of resident freshman tuition incentives to encourage secondary students to complete postsecondary-level work;
• Deletes consideration of programs to develop or improve the quality of teachers, principals, and administrators in K-12 education.



•  Increasing productivity: Continued from fiscal year 1994-95 with the following changes:

• Specifies that in developing the distribution formula for this policy area, the commission must give equal consideration to each of the specified parameters, rather than tailoring the formula to include consideration of an institution's role and mission;
• Adds consideration of whether an institution demonstrates a high number of graduate teaching hours, graduate student contact hours, and graduate advising hours by full-time faculty;
• Adds consideration of whether an institution demonstrates a high number of faculty who teach graduate students;
• Deletes consideration of curriculum improvement through analysis of performance rates on licensing exams;
•   Deletes consideration of decreasing noneducational faculty and administrator leaves to reflect current law regarding sabbatical policies;
• Deletes consideration of demonstrating a high degree of personal efficiency;
• Deletes consideration of reducing administrative paperwork for students and faculty;
• Adds consideration of whether an institution participates in joint ventures to enable students to begin their post-secondary education at community colleges and finish at 4-year colleges or universities;
• Adds consideration of whether an institution demonstrates a high number of students who graduate within 5 years of matriculation;
• Adds consideration of whether an institution demonstrates a high student retention rate.



•  Work force training: Continued from fiscal year 1994-95 with the following changes:



•   Adds consideration of programs to provide increased access to training or professional graduate programs in each area of the state;
•   Adds consideration of apprenticeship and intern programs;
•   Adds consideration of vocational-technical and professional development programs at off-campus facilities, with rent subsidization;



•  Increasing enrollment: Continued from fiscal year 1994-95 with the following changes:



• Focuses distributions in this area on increased enrollment, with special consideration to enrollment at lower-cost institutions;
•   Deletes the required demonstration of increased unfunded resident enrollment;
•   Deletes the required demonstration of capping undergraduate resident enrollment in response to limited revenues;
•   Authorizes a governing board to show increased enrollment of all resident students, rather than just under-represented resident students.



•  Development and use of technology: Replaces financial aid as a policy area, and specifies the parameters for programs that receive funds in this area.

        Requires allocations of funds appropriated for the 5 policy areas to be made by a distribution formula for each policy area; except that allocations for the K-12 linkages and the technology policy areas may be made through grant programs.

        Allows any institution that admitted, for fall semester 1994, more than 20% of its freshmen or transfer students using criteria other than standardized test scores, high school and college grade point averages, and high school class rank to use said other criteria to admit the same greater percentage for fall semester 1995. By October 1, 1995, requires the Colorado commission on higher education to submit a proposal regarding statutory admission criteria and the percentage of students that may be admitted at each institution based on additional criteria.

        Extends reconsideration of the 5 policy areas to every 2 years. Allows the Colorado commission on higher education to adjust the policy area distribution formulas, if necessary, during the years in which the policy areas are not reconsidered.

        Includes the Colorado community college and occupational education system college in the state system of community and technical colleges.

        Exempts from the limitations on post-employment compensation any specialty track faculty member whose primary job assignment is clinical care and who is employed at a state institution of higher education.

APPROVED by Governor March 20, 1995
EFFECTIVE March 20, 1995

H.B. 95-1354 State board for community colleges and occupational education - power to lease facility - higher education and advanced technology center at Lowry. Authorizes the state board for community colleges and occupational education to lease facilities at the higher education and advanced technology center at Lowry to institutions of higher education that are not in the state system of community and technical colleges.

APPROVED by Governor May 22, 1995
EFFECTIVE May 22, 1995

H.B. 95-1364 Capital construction projects at higher education institutions - appropriation - student fees reporting requirement - course scheduling requirements. Appropriates $60,097,027 from the general fund to the capital construction fund for capital projects related to higher education. Appropriates specified amounts to certain governing boards of institutions of higher education and to the department of public health and environment for capital projects that will benefit institutions of higher education.

        Requires each state-supported institution of higher education to itemize in its billing statements each fee charged to students. Also requires the billing statement and the catalog or schedule of courses to describe each fee charged to students, the purposes of the fee, and whether costs of collection are reimbursed from the fees collected. Requires that billing statements identify any optional fees and have a means for students to choose not to pay the fee. Provides that any optional fees are refundable during the semester in which the student paid the fee. Directs the capital development committee to consider each institution's implementation of these provisions in making capital construction recommendations.

        Requires each state-supported institution of higher education: To schedule classes so that students can complete their degree programs in specified time frames; to increase the capacity of core classes by increasing the frequency in which they are offered; to ensure that students who are unable to take a core class because it is full will have priority the next time the class is offered; and to increase the capacity of required and prerequisite courses by increasing the frequency with which they are offered so that at least 95% of student demand for the course is met. Directs the capital development committee to consider each institution's implementation of these provisions in making capital construction recommendations. Directs the Colorado commission on higher education to adopt policies to ensure that these scheduling policies are met by each institution.

APPROVED by Governor June 5, 1995
EFFECTIVE June 5, 1995
PORTION VETOED June 5, 1995

The information on this page is presented as an informational service only and should not be relied upon as an official record of action or legal position of the State of Colorado, the Colorado General Assembly, or the Office of Legislative Legal Services.