201.1 Purpose
The Utah System of Higher Education Membership Hour Reporting Policy specifies criteria, definitions, and explanations as to how membership hours will be measured, classified, reported, and audited at each technical college. Membership hours are a performance indicator measuring college instructional activities.
201.2 Approval
Board of Higher Education approval: June 15, 2005. Revised: June 11, 2008; September 3, 2008. Replaced June 18, 2009. Revised: January 12, 2011; April 25, 2013; September 17, 2015; June 8, 2016; May 18, 2017; September 13, 2017.
201.3 References
Policy 200, Program/Course Approval and Reporting
Policy 204, Tuition and Fees
201.4 Definitions
4.1 Membership Hour: A measure of instructional activities provided by a technical college. One membership hour equates to sixty minutes of scheduled student instruction.
4.2 Exit Date: The date on which a student’s access to a schedule is officially discontinued as provided in college policy, as a result of graduation, expiration of enrollment, schedule change, withdrawal, etc. For a student who is not documented as having attended any class for ten consecutive full days of scheduled classes, and who has not otherwise exited from nor changed his or her schedule, the exit date from the scheduled class shall be the date of the tenth consecutive full day of absence from all scheduled classes.
201.5 Membership Hour Reporting
Membership hours documented as meeting all of the following criteria shall be reported to the Commissioner and Board of Higher Education. Any course that does not meet all of the following criteria shall not be reported to the Commissioner nor the Board of Higher Education.
5.1 Enrolled Student: The hours were accrued by a person documented as having been formally scheduled into a course or program in accordance with college policy.
5.2 Approved Course/Program: The activity was part of a course/program which was approved in accordance with Policy 200 (Program/Course Approval and Reporting).
5.3 Mission-related: The course/program meets the career and technical education mission as specified in 200.6.2.
5.4 In-state: The course/program offering originated within the State of Utah.
5.5 Geographic Region: The course/program was not offered outside the geographic area served by the technical college without a cooperative agreement with the Utah public postsecondary institution assigned to the region in which it was offered, as provided in UCA 53B-2a-106(3)(c), unless it met the criteria prescribed in UCA 53B-2a-106(6). Exceptions are allowed only for online courses provided to students within the State of Utah.
201.6 Measurement of Membership Hours
Membership hours shall be accrued according to the applicable scheduling method:
6.1 Open-exit Schedule: For a schedule in which students are provided verified periods of time to receive instruction without a fixed course or program completion time, membership hours shall begin on the enrolled student’s scheduled start date, and shall accrue up to and including the exit date as defined in 201.4.2.
6.2 Defined-length Schedule: For a schedule that does not meet the criteria of 201.6.1, membership hours shall be reported in the amount of the course length approved for the full course as provided in Policy 200.6.8. Hours for such schedules shall be accrued on the date the student enrolled as specified in 201.5.1. For a student who does not remain enrolled beyond the course’s 100% refund deadline approved and published by the college, zero hours are posted regardless of hours spent or competencies completed.
6.2.1 For a full program that is structured as a defined-length schedule (i.e., hours are accrued in the amount of the program length approved under 200.6.8 on the date a student enrolls), a college shall report only the scheduled instruction delivered up to and including the student’s exit date for a student who withdraws from the program after the 100% refund deadline and without graduating (i.e., a college shall discount previously reported hours for students exiting a program early and unsuccessfully).
201.7 Classification of Membership Hours
Reported membership hours shall be classified by student type as follows:
7.1 Secondary Hours: Hours accrued by students who meet the definition of “secondary student” provided in Policy 205.5.1.1 during the enrollment period in which hours are accrued.
7.2 Postsecondary Hours: Hours accrued by students not meeting the definition of “secondary student” provided in Policy 205.5.1.1 during the enrollment period in which hours are accrued.
