By Bruce Humphrey, aka Avov Sao
Ridgewater College

Hello. I am A Variety Of Students, Speaking As One. That’s Avov Sao or just Sao for short.

I want to talk to you today about the 60/120 credit cap that was passed by the Minnesota Legislature to be implemented by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system. As a new student, I heard a lot of things about this legislation, some good, some bad, some true and some not. Let me tell you, it was very confusing and if you are a new student yourself, I imagine you are already confused.

First, let me tell you a little about who I am. As I said, my name is Avov Sao and I am a student at a community and technical college in Minnesota. I am enrolled in a nursing program but I have many friends, much like me, who are in many different programs; from multimedia to marketing, liberal arts to law enforcement, education to economics and many, many more. Believe me when I tell you, MnSCU has something for just about everyone.

In fact, the home page of their web site, mnscu.edu says it best: “We educate Minnesota; we make it work.”

“So what is all the fuss about this legislation called 60/120,” I wondered the first time I saw a flyer on a bulletin board. “This is college. Can’t they figure out that it’s 0.5, 1/2, or 50 percent? Come on. Even I know how to divide 60 and 120.”

Unfortunately, the 60/120 legislation is not that simple. Fortunately, I was able to talk to a lot of folks, ask a lot of questions, sort through a lot of myths and come out with a much clearer picture.

More than anything else, it is the myths that are causing confusion. As I explain the ins and outs of the 60/120 legislation, I will highlight some of the myths and reveal the truth.

Wasn’t 60/120 created to make it harder for students to get what they want?

First of all, let me explain what 60/120 means. The Minnesota state legislature, in 2007, passed into law a provision that capped all associate degrees at 60 credits and all baccalaureate degrees at 120 credits. This meant that institutions could not arbitrarily increase the class load required for degree programs. Ultimately, this provision was designed to save students money.

But what if it takes more than those credits to get my degree? What if I need more training to be ready for the workforce?

From the beginning, there has been a waiver process that allows certain programs to exceed the 60 and/or 120 credit caps. One of the defining features of community colleges is their efforts to provide the nearby business community, with an educated, highly-skilled workforce. There have been waivers granted at nearly every community and technical college in the state.

We have seen the economy change quickly. How difficult is it for our schools to get their waivers granted so they can offer the complete programs that we need?

Check out the process for yourself. I just Googled 60/120 and the top of the list was a Word document that has a flow chart showing the process. At most, it is 8 or 9 steps. Normally, it is 3 or 4. This credit cap was never intended to hinder a college’s ability to respond to the needs of the community or the needs of its students.

Then why bother? If the waiver process is so simple, why have a cap at all? What purpose does it serve?

In the eyes of the legislature, this provision was designed to do one thing: protect the students. They wanted to make sure that students were only being asked to take the type and number of classes that they truly needed to be successful in the workplace.

As colleges compete more and more for limited resources, it was suggested that some administrations may add classes to programs unnecessarily to bring in extra revenue.
As part of the provision, MnSCU was tasked with overseeing this waiver process to ensure that any program that exceeded the 60/120 limit had a very justifiable reason for doing so.

Can you sum up all of this?
Sure. 60/120 is a law that limits the number of credits that colleges can require for an associate’s degree to 60 and a baccalaureate degree to 120; however this law has very broad waiver language written into it so that schools may increase the credit requirements to meet the needs of its students.
What I, Avov Sao, have learned is this:

• The law was designed to protect students and save them money.
• Programs that need more credits will receive waivers.
• The waiver process is simple and efficient.
• Students will get the training they need to be ready for the workforce.

Any student who has more questions about 60/120 can call the Minnesota State College Student Association at 1-877-63-MSCSA.