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[larryc]

Friends, I Hope this is the right forum for a general question about financial aid and federal law.

At our department meeting just now, the chair announced that due to federal regulations any course offered online had to be offered on campus as well, either the same semester or very soon thereafter. He said that if we do not do this, students in the internet sections would not qualify for federal financial aid.

Can this possibly be true? Does anyone have any details on this?

[dept_geek]

Federal Law? No. At least, I hope not. We offer (and I teach) several classes each term that are not offered in the classroom. Well... maybe it's because they *could* be in the classroom that we are ok. But for the past several years some classes I teach have Not been offered in a traditional format. At least two of the classes have never been offered in the classroom.

We have a department policy for what constitutes "attendence" - submit one assessment (quiz, lab, homework, discussion posting). At that point, they are considered to have "attended" and thus are eligible for financial aid. The normal rules then apply to actually keeping the award (passing a certain percentage of credit hours attempted)

Public CC.

Hope that helps.

[dale1]

I believe your chair is woefully mistaken.  Perhaps this is tied to attendance, in which case you can manage the enrollment by counting the number of students who submit the first X out of Y assignments as "attending."  In any case, I've never seen financial aid tied to the type of course one is taking, or whether it has "live" counterparts or not.

[icurhere2]

I don't know about the chair's interpretation, although I do know some visa issues have come up for international students taking online courses, particularly as part of consortia.

[finallyfullprof]

That has not been an issue at my CC. For accreditation and state contact hour reimbursement purposes, we are required to have a means by which we take attendance online, so perhaps that is what covers the federal requirement.  Throughout my district, we have a smattering of classes that are offered only in an online format because they don't make otherwise. We have no disclaimers on aid for these classes, and most of our students are on aid of some kind.

[mickfed]

On-line courses qualify for federal aid, federal tuition assistance and veterans’ benefits (Montgomery GI bill and Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation) so long as they are “established, accredited courses” and part of a “program of education or training leading to a diploma or certification.”

The problem may very well be that your institution has not sought accreditation for the on-line course and is covering the accreditation issue by offering “a single course” via two methods of delivery.  This is the old day method of offering a course in residence while at the same time enrolling students off campus to attend via closed circuit television.

Somebody hasn’t paid homage to the bureaucracy of federal process and is now trying to find a work around.   

[historian]

Being at a place that has a huge on-line course offering including a BA in Liberal ARts via Distance Ed, I have to say that there is probably a misinterpretation here. A case in point:  I "teach" (read: grade and answer the random email about)  two courses that are in our catalogue but do not have a specialist in that area currently on faculty. My fields are the closest (chrono/thematically). I have for 3 years. In that time we have never offered it on campus and definitely won't for at least the next two years (no plans to hire in that subfield). Another popular course at that level isn't one that has ever been or (likely) ever will be offered on campus. In fact, the push now is to relieve over enrollment on campus by encouraging "regular" students to do a course or two in their  major this way.

My institution works this like the pros they are and believe me, if there was any concern, it would have surfaced here. They monitor that huge cash cow that is the Distance Program for the slightest change in loan eligibility, residency (state or federal) for degrees, etc. I get email all the time about the most minor administrivia whenever the feds or state even glance at on-line delivery issues. If this was a new rule it would threaten this massive operation's status quo and, again, believe me, I would have been buried under mail. Instead, they want to expand it.