2010-2011 Catalog Addendum

2010-2011 LSCS Catalog Addendum

Heading (pages 1-9)

Accreditations and Members (pages 10-13)

Accreditation

Formerly known as the North Harris Montgomery Community College District, the Lone Star College System  is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Associate of Arts, Associate of Arts in Teaching, Associate of Science and Associate of Applied Science Degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of The Lone Star College System, to file a third-party comment at the time of the ten-year review, and to file a complaint against the institution for alleged non-compliance with a standard or requirement. Normal inquiries about Lone Star College System such as admissions requirement, financial aid, educational programs, etc. should be addressed directly to Lone Star College System and not to the Commission's office. Accredited since 1976, Lone Star's accreditation was reaffirmed in 2002 and is scheduled for reaffirmation of accreditation in 2012. 

Individual programs at Lone Star are further approved by numerous national associations and state credentialing agencies including the American Dental Association, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacist Commission on Credentialing, the American Veterinary Medical Association, The Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas, the Commission on Accreditation for Allied Health Education Programs, the Commission on Accreditation for Physical Therapy Education, the Texas Department of Health Services, the Texas Education Agency and many others. 

General Information (pages 14-23)

• (page 14) Lone Star College System's Statement of Mission/Purpose and Value Statements have been updated. See  http://www.lonestar.edu/about-lsc.htm for more information.
   

Admissions (pages 24-27)

Registration (pages 28-37)

• (page 36) Advanced Technical Credit (ATC) Course Crosswalk  - Under the heading "Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources", remove VTHT 1205 and VTHT 1301. These courses are no longer approved for articulation. 

Financial Information and Assistance (pages 38-57)

• (page 39) Tuition and fees - Effective spring, 2011, the general use fee will change from $2.00 per credit hour to $7.00 per credit hour.

• (page 45) In the second column, the text in the first bullet at the top of the page should be removed:  Students (regardless of their immigration status) for whom a Petition for Permanent Resident Status (I-130 or I-140) has been filed by a sponsor, can also be treated like permanent residents. Students who fall into this category must provide proof of eligibility by showing a copy of their CIS receipt for when the petition was filed. The document must include the student's name and the form that was filed. 

The statement above should be replaced with the following.

A student is entitled to pay resident tuition if the student has filed for adjustment of status to that of a person admitted as a Permanent Resident under 8 U. S. Code 1255, or under the "registry" program (8 USC 1259), or the Special Immigrant Juvenile Program (8 USC 1101(a)(27)(J)) and has been issued a fee/filing receipt or Notice of Action by USCIS.  Students who fall into this category must provide proof of eligibility by showing a copy of their I-485 USCIS receipt or Notice of Action.

• (page 56) In the first column and under "Hazlewood Act for Texas Veterans", item #2 should be changed to the following. Have received an honorable discharge or separation or a general discharge under honorable conditions.

Records, Policies and Procedures (pages 58-61)

• (page 59) In the second column and under the "Repetition of Courses" heading, the second paragraph should be removed and replaced with the following. "If a course is taken more than two times there will be an additional fee of $60 per credit hour, unless the course may be repeated for credit."

Academic Policies, Procedures, and Services (pages 62-71)

• (pages 68-69) Credit by External Examination - Add the following IB exam option for Social/Behavioral Science. Philosophy IB exam (SL) (HL) - PHIL 1301 - score of 4; Add the following IB exam option for Business.  Business IB exam - BUSI 1301 - score of 4
• (page 69) Credit by External Examination - A student that takes the Spanish Heritage Learner Exam will be placed in the appropriate course. Upon completion of the course with a grade of "C" or better, the student receives credit for the course and may request credit for certain lower level courses. See http://www.lonestar.edu/pla-exam-foreign-language.htm for required placement scores and relevant courses.

Student Development Programs and Services (pages 72-77)

Graduation Requirements (pages 78-83)

• (pages 81-83) Graduation Requirements and Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) credit - No more than 50% of the credits on a certificate program or associate's degree may be earned from Prior Learning Assessment methods. No more than fifteen (15) semester credit hours may be awarded from PLA by means other than recognized evaluative examinations. Students must complete 50% of the credits on a certificate program or at least 18 credits of an associate's degree at Lone Star College System to meet graduation requirements.

Academic Transfer (pages 84-95)

Workforce Degrees and Certificates - Star chart (pages 96-103)

• (pages 96-100) Please note that on the Workforce Degrees and Certificates starchart, the program codes include underscores ( _ ) instead of a dots ( . ).   This was changed due to the upcoming conversion to iStar in the fall, 2010.   Please continue to use the dot ( . ) when using Colleague.  The underscore ( _ ) will be used once the conversion to iStar is completed in the fall.  (Example: Use AAS.ACCS when accessing the Accounting AAS degree in Colleague. Use AAS_ACCS when accessing the Accounting AAS degree in iStar after the conversion.)
• (page 99) Fire Science Technology Program - Lone Star College-Kingwood will begin offering the Basic Structural Firefighter Certificate effective spring, 2011, pending Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approval.
  
  

Degrees and Certificates (pages 104-189)

Course Descriptions (pages 190-323)