Lawmakers and system leaders press for clearer transfer credit rules for dual‑enrolled and early‑college students
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Summary
Senators and University System of Maryland leaders told the subcommittee that students who take AP or dual‑enrollment courses in high school still face inconsistent acceptance of credits at some Maryland public universities, and urged the committee and institutions to make transferability a priority.
Senator Quarterman and other legislators raised concerns to the Education, Business, and Administration Subcommittee that students who participate in dual enrollment, early college or Advanced Placement programs sometimes must retake comparable courses when they matriculate at state universities.
University System of Maryland representatives, including Dr. Perman, acknowledged the problem and said transfer and credit‑acceptance is a work in progress. Dr. Perman told the subcommittee that students often report receiving high AP scores or dual‑enrollment credit only to be told at institutions like College Park or Towson that the courses are not equivalent to their on‑campus offerings and must be repeated.
The nut graf: Lawmakers and system leaders emphasized that resolving inconsistent credit transfer undermines efforts to make early college and community‑college pathways an effective pipeline to degrees, particularly in high‑demand fields such as cybersecurity and computer science.
Senator Quarterman urged the subcommittee to prioritize work this year to ensure credits earned at community colleges or through early college are recognized where appropriate. The concern extended to cybersecurity training and associate degrees at community colleges that are intended as workforce pathways but face acceptance hurdles at four‑year institutions.
Dr. Perman said the system will continue to work with partners to “fix that” and make transfer more seamless, while acknowledging more work remains to be done.
