Student Government passed two joint resolutions on Feb. 27 to make claiming Advanced Placement exam credits easier for students.
One joint resolution calls for the AP United States History exam to count for all six hours of the core curriculum history requirement instead of the current three. The other resolution demands all credit-claiming fees be eliminated. Students currently have to pay $10 per credit hour claimed, making it a $30 fee to transfer the standard AP credit or three-hour course.
The APUSH joint resolution argues the AP curriculum covers the years 1491 to present, so it should earn more credit than HIS 315L, which only covers 1865 to present.
Zach Lacy, a Longhorn Legislative Aide and an author of the resolution, said he felt motivated to write the resolution after learning he had to take another history course despite performing well on the APUSH exam.
Other schools in the UT System offer six hours for students who score a four or higher on the APUSH exam, so first year representative Anthony Nguyen said UT should also “fast track” the history credit claiming process.
Nidhi Chanchlani, a College of Liberal Arts Representative and author of the resolution eliminating credit-claiming fees, said the legislation stemmed from her own struggle to cover the cost of AP credits. She said she had to claim her credits in phases because she couldn’t afford to pay for all of them in one sitting.
“Having to come in and pay an extra $30 for every class I wanted to claim felt a little ridiculous,” Chanchlani said. “The whole point of me taking those exams in high school was that it was supposed to be a really easy way to transfer in credit.”
Chanchlani said she thinks eliminating credit-claiming fees is feasible for UT given other schools in the UT System, such as UT-Dallas, don’t have those fees. Chanchlani also emphasized that this joint resolution was only the first step in a long process towards eliminating the fees for students. She said she will continue advocating for this cause to the Office of the Registrar.
“I’m hoping that this is something that I can start and someone else can maybe continue to do,” Chanchlani said.
