This policy is intended (a) to clarify the State University of New York’s (University) position on the offering of credit for developmental/remedial courses, (b) to encourage campuses to devote appropriate attention to matters pertaining to the granting of collegiate credit, (c) to assure reasonable compliance with academic standards established by accrediting bodies, and (d) to demonstrate the commitment of the University to quality in its academic endeavors and to access for the educationally disadvantaged. They are intended neither to limit nor restrict the offering of developmental or remedial courses by any campus, nor to curtail the admission of students who need such educational service.

A.   Courses designated remedial/developmental shall not be awarded academic credit and thus cannot be applied as credittoward a college degree.

B.   The designation of remedial/developmental courses shall rest with the faculty of each campus, since all courses offered on a campus are reviewed and approved by the faculty through defined campus governance mechanisms in which the expertise of the faculty is the determining influence. The faculty may judge an individual course as either "below college level" and hence, remedial/developmental in all curricula, or they may consider the course selectively remedial/developmental for particular programs.

C.   Remedial/developmental courses shall be identified as such and the conditions under which they may be required shall be clearly stated in the college catalog, within reasonable publication schedules, and their listing shall be reviewed periodically.

D.   Curricula, degree, and course requirements should be determined independently of the issue of remediation, and should become the basis for determination as to whether remediation is necessary.

E.   The availability and requirements of remedial/developmental courses should be designed to assist students to obtain a degree, and it is educationally appropriate, as determined by the faculty, to require remediation/developmental work from students as they progress toward a degree. Normally such courses should be available to students at the early stages of their college programs.

F.    Implementation of these guidelines is not intended to prevent the inclusion of non-credit elements in a course. For example, a course awarding specific credit hours may include as a required element of enrollment in that course, one or more hours of remedial/developmental non-credit work, if the instructor believes that such non-credit element is essential for some or all of the students. For campuses to receive imputed credits for non-credit remedial/developmental components, the campus must explicitly identify these components as requirements in catalogs and other relevant publications of the campus.

G.   For state-operated colleges, budget support is engendered by non-credit courses which are required of students, or by non-credit remedial/developmental courses which are designed to serve the needs of special students (EOP/SEEK) or other risk admission students. Imputed equivalent credits are generated by these courses and thus budgetary support earned similar to credit courses offered by a campus. For community colleges, imputed equivalent credits, and thus FTE's generated by all non-credit remedial/developmental courses, are treated as are other courses and are eligible for state support.

H.   Non-credit remedial/developmental courses designated by the faculty as required generate imputed credits which can be counted for financial aid to enrolled students through various state programs.

There are no definitions relevant to this policy.

There is no related information relevant to this policy.

There are no procedures relevant to this policy.

There are no forms relevant to this policy.

Memorandum to Presidents 91-2, dated April 18, 1991, Credit Equivalency for Non-Credit Instruction

Memorandum to Presidents, 85-11, dated August 23, 1985, University Guidelines on Developmental/Remedial Courses

Memorandum to Presidents 76-8, dated June 30, 1976, Credit-Contact Hour Relationship

There is no history relevant to this policy.

There are no appendices relevant to this policy.