By Shaun Banther
Eastern New Mexico University faculty members are taking into consideration the possibility of reducing the minimum hour requirements for bachelor’s degree programs.
The University of New Mexico already has decreased its requirement from 128 hours to a minimum of only 120. This decrease is part of nationwide trend in credit-hour reductions for public institutions, according to a recent article by the Albuquerque Journal.
“I’ve spoken during the general faculty meetings and during Faculty Senate about the changes at UNM to determine if that’s something we need to look at,” said Jamie Laurenz, vice president for Academic Affairs. “By and large, the faculty has responded to it well.”
For a majority of degree programs, a reduction from 128 to 120 would not require a high degree of effort on the part of the faculty, according to Laurenz.
“We do have some programs, such as our Education program, which are accredited programs where that is going to be difficult,” Laurenz said. “These programs are either accredited by the state or a national organization.”
Reducing the hours could mean losing accreditation for specific programs, so reducing hours may not be possible for some programs, according to Laurenz.
ENMU has earned national accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission and several individual agencies. Some of ENMU’s accreditation agencies include the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the National League for Nursing (NLN), and the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM).
ENMU faculty has considered the idea as long as the end result is still obtainable and students can still obtain “quality outcomes,” Laurenz said.
“Our programs have spent the last few years being much more intentional with how the curriculum builds towards these outcomes,” he said. “When a Biology major walks across the stage at graduation, what does that mean? What can they do? What do they know? Moving forward, we want to preserve the outcomes while reducing the hours.”
According to the most recent tuition and fees for undergraduate students, it cost roughly $190 per credit hour for in-state students and approximately $420 for out-of-state students. A reduction of eight credit hours is equivalent to $1,520 in savings for in-state students and $3,360 for out-of-staters.