Syllabuses go online with new House bill

On May 29, 2009, the Texas State Legislature passed House Bill 2504, which requires all syllabus information for college students to be available online prior to the student's enrollment as well as calls for uniform standards for publication of cost of attendance.

According to the language of the bill, "Each institution of higher education…. shall make available to the public on the institution's Internet website information for each undergraduate classroom course offered for credit by the institution."

The bill also requires universities "to ensure that information regarding the cost of attendance at institutions of higher education is available to the public in a manner that is consumer-friendly and readily understandable to prospective students and their families."

Though this bill went into effect September 1, 2009, this is the first full semester the new rules have been applied.

Reaction on the campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce has been positive in light of the bill's passing.

"I think it is a really good idea," junior history major Chad Cowles. "I think it will only help students because it will allow them to be better prepared for what they are in for during the semester [financially and academically]."

Though the students are the major beneficiaries of the passing of this bill, at least one member of the staff at A&M- Commerce agrees students should have this information available to them.

"It is an excellent idea [to have the syllabus posted online]," A&M-Commerce counselor Marty Marsh Jacobs said. "Students tend to lose their syllabi and it would help them to have another place to have access to it."

While reaction has been generally positive, concern about students cherry-picking classes in an effort to have easier workloads has been raised. The thought behind this is, if students are allowed to see the course information before they enroll, then they will not take the classes requiring more work of them and opt for the simpler ones.

One student believes this could have a negative effect overall.

"If the students pick the easier classes and have things easy on them with everything mapped out, they can get a sugar-coated view on life," sophomore public relations major Tricia Gilbert said. "It just doesn't prepare them for real life where things are hard."

Other students seem unconcerned with this aspect and do not feel it will be an issue.
"I do not see this as a problem, because your degree plan requires you to take certain courses and you have to take them, so it will not matter," Cowles said.

In the past Texas has had achievements with regard to transparency of policies and spending in colleges and universities. Some of these initiatives such as "Where the Money Goes," "Open Books Texas," and "Tracking the Texas Stimulus," have modernized the way government interacts with its citizens.