9.4     Institutional Credits for an Undergraduate Degree

At least 25 percent of the credit hours required for an undergraduate degree are earned through instruction offered by the institution awarding the degree.

Judgment

x   Compliance           o  Non-Compliance           o Partial Compliance

Narrative  

UL Lafayette offers 100% of the instruction in all of its undergraduate degree programs. There are no consortial undergraduate degrees. Articulation agreements and transfer pathways with community colleges stipulate that no more than 60 hours or 50% of the credits can apply to the degree.

At least 25% of the credit hours required for an undergraduate degree must be earned through instruction offered by UL Lafayette. Residence requirements for the undergraduate degree stipulate that a student “shall be required to earn the last 30 hours, applicable toward the degree, in residence as a major in the academic college from which the degree is sought.” In addition, the Catalog stipulates that “In no case may a student earn a baccalaureate degree from the University unless at least 25% of the required degree hours are earned at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.”

Advisors and transfer coordinators within each college, as well as the Office of the Dean of the college monitor compliance with these rules when students complete their degree plans prior to graduation.  The following are representative of the degree check process:

·         Anthropology Degree Check Sheet

·         Chemical Engineering Major Checklist

·         Mathematics Major Checklist

UL Lafayette identifies any external credits earned, as well as the external institution that granted the credits, at the beginning of the official academic transcript. Institutional credit (i.e., credit earned at UL Lafayette) is identified following the external institution information.

Competency-based credit

The RN to BSN program offers students who have been prepared as registered nurses (RN) in Associate’s Degree programs the opportunity to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing (BSN) at UL Lafayette. RNs who have successfully completed a minimum of 28 credit hours of Nursing courses at the Associate degree level are eligible to enroll and to apply these 28 credits toward their BSN degree. This credit is awarded based on the student’s previous acquisition of knowledge related to direct patient care, as verified by the conferral of an Associate’s Degree, in areas such as pharmacology; care of the pediatric, maternity, and adult patients; and fundamentals of nursing. Upon transfer of these RN credits, students may enroll directly in courses needed specifically for a BSN degree, which focus on topics such as research, leadership, genetics, community health, and nursing informatics.

A requirement for admission to the RN to BSN program is that students receive their Associate Degree from a nursing program accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) or the Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation (CNEA). In addition, Associate Degree granting universities must be accredited by one of organizations recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA): the Higher Learning Commission, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the New England Commission of Higher Education, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or the WASC Senior College and University Commission.

Upon completing NURS 354 (Transition to Professional Nursing for RN to BSN) at UL Lafayette, RN to BSN students are also retroactively granted 12 credits corresponding to four foundational, practice-based courses (NURS 104, 204, 208, and 310). The completion of NURS 354 serves as verification that students have mastered the learning objectives of the four foundational courses. NURS 354 must be taken and successfully completed before a student can enroll in any other nursing course. An additional requirement for admission into the program provides another verification of previously acquired competencies: applicants must have passed the NCLEX-RN© licensure exam, a standardized exam that each state Board of Nursing uses to determine if a candidate is prepared for entry-level nursing practice.

In addition to these 40 credits (28 transferred, 12 retroactively granted), RN to BSN students must earn 30 more credits in Nursing courses, as well as 50 hours of General Education and elective courses at UL Lafayette.

 

Supporting Documents

Anthropology Degree Check Sheet

Articulation Agreements

Chemical Engineering Major Checklist

Degree Plan RN-BSN

Mathematics Major Checklist

Nursing Catalog

Sample academic transcript

Undergraduate Degree Requirements