Dallas College Richland Campus Music Advisors Exhaust Financial Aid & Put Students Into Out of State Tuition

[Soapboxmom]

Please be aware that Dallas College Richland Campus Music Advisors routinely place students into excess credit hours that apply to nothing, but that do exhaust financial aid and put students into out of state tuition at their own Texas Universities. Derrick Logozzo, the Music Department Chair and Melissa Logan, the choir director have put the students that come into the department into dozens of excess music credit hours. I have done Open Records Requests and many of these students at a 2 year / junior college have accrued between 100-161 hours when only 66 will transfer.

In Texas a student with the total number of credits for a degree plus 30 (150 credit hours) is charged out of state tuition at a 4 year Texas University. At 90 hours at Richland and 180 hours at a 4 year school financial aid is exhausted. Anyone considering Richland College needs to go to the Transfer Center and get in touch with the schools they are considering transferring to to be sure they will have a reasonable chance of auditioning into the program and to get a copy of the degree plan and be sure to take only what is on that plan.

Many students have been started in Music Theory that is not college level and put in so much music nonsense that they will have more than 100 hours but not even earned the 60 credit hour Associate’s Degree. These advisors lure students in with programs such as audio engineering, commercial music and more that aren’t even available. This 2 year college has many full-time students in their 3rd, 4th or even 5th year of study.

Very few graduate or transfer to a 4 year college. Of the few that transfer almost none earn a Bachelor’s degree. This spring of 2020 only 3 former Richland students earned a Bachelor’s in music.

[Soapboxmom]

ASSOCIATE OF ARTS DEGREE WITH A FIELD OF STUDY IN MUSIC

This plan is an official Field of Study Degree approved
by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Offered on All Campuses

Degree Code: AA.FS.MUSIC.14

This degree plan is designed to meet the needs of students who plan to major in Music and transfer to a four-year college/university. This curriculum applies to the Bachelor of Music degree, but also may be applied to the Bachelor of Arts or other baccalaureate-level music degree as deemed appropriate by the awarding institution. The field of study in music included in this degree is approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. This degree plan will constitute a 60-semester-credit-hour transfer block to any public Texas four-year college or university.

Transferring students who have completed the field of study curriculum must satisfy the competency and proficiency requirements of the receiving institution. Transferring students shall not be required to repeat courses transferred as part of the field of study curriculum. However, diagnostic assessment of transfer students is permissible if the receiving institution routinely conducts diagnostic assessment of native students at the same point in the Program of Study.

Completion of the field of study curriculum shall not prevent a receiving institution from requiring additional lower-division courses that may be necessary for specific degree programs. Receiving institutions may require transfer students in specialized programs (e.g., jazz studies, performance, composition, music therapy, etc.) to take additional degree-specific lower-division courses that are not included in the field of study curriculum. Receiving institutions are not required to accept a grade below “C” in transfer.

In order to be eligible to receive this A.A. degree, a student must:

1. Complete a minimum of 60 credit hours including all the required courses listed;
2. Earn a grade of “C” or better in English 1301 and the selected college-level mathematics course;
3. Receive a GPA (2) of at least 2.00 (“C”);
4. Meet all Texas Success Initiative (TSI) requirements and course prerequisites; and
5. Complete at least 25% of the credit hours required for graduation through instruction by Dallas College.

Students who plan to transfer must work closely with an advisor/counselor and music coordinator at the college.

This degree does not include all Core course requirements.

Courses Required for the A.A. Degree with a Field of Study in Music
Component Areas
and CB Codes Courses Semester-Credit Hours Required
Communication
(CB010) Select EACH of the following:

ENGL 1301 (a grade of “C” or better is required)
ENGL 1302 6
Mathematics
(CB020) Select ONE of the following:

(A grade of “C” or better is required.)
MATH 1314, 1316, 1324, 1325, 1332, 1342, 1350, 1414, 1442, 2412, 2413, 2414 3-4
Life and Physical Sciences
(CB030) Select ONE of the following:

ANTH 2401, BIOL 1406, 1407, 1408, 1409, 1411, 2401, 2402, 2406, 2416, 2420, 2421CHEM 1405, 1406, 1407, 1411, 1412, 2423, 2425ENVR 1401, 1402GEOL 1401, 1402, 1403, 1404, 1405, 1445, 1447PHYS 1401, 1402, 1403, 1404, 1405, 1407, 1415, 1417, 2425, 2426 4
Creative Arts
(CB050) Select the following:

MUSI 1307 3

American History
(CB060) Select the following:

HIST 1301

and

Select ONE of the following:
HIST 1302, 2301, 2328, 2381 6
Government/Political Science
(CB070) Select EACH of the following:

GOVT 2305, 2306 6
Component Area Option
(CB090) Select ONE of the following options:

Option A: SPCH 1311, 1315, 1321 or SGNL 1301, 1302 and PHED 1164

OR

Option B: FOREIGN LANGUAGE - ARAB 1411, 1412; CHIN 1411, 1412; FREN 1411, 1412; GERM 1411, 1412; ITAL 1411, 1412; JAPN 1411, 1412; KORE 1411, 1412; PORT 1411, 1412; RUSS 1411, 1412; SPAN 1411, 1412 4
CORE CREDIT HOURS FOR THIS A.A. DEGREE 32

REQUIRED MUSIC ENSEMBLE FIELD OF STUDY COURSES
Select FOUR semester hours from the following:
MUEN 1121, 1122, 1123, 1131, 1132, 1133, 1134, 1135, 1136, 1137, 1151, 1152, 1153, 2123, 2141
(Courses may be repeated for credit.) 4
APPLIED STUDY
I. Select EIGHT (8) semester hours in the major applied area of study of the following:
MUAP 1101, 1105, 1109, 1113, 1115, 1117, 1121, 1125, 1129, 1133, 1137, 1141, 1145, 1149, 1153, 1157, 1158, 1161, 1165, 1169, 1177, 1181, 2201, 2205, 2209, 2213, 2215, 2217, 2221, 2225, 2229, 2233, 2237, 2241, 2245, 2249, 2253, 2257, 2258, 2261, 2265, 2269, 2277, 2281
(Courses may be repeated for credit.)

II. Applied/class piano
MUSI 1181, 1182, 2181, 2182; MUAP 1169, 2269, 2369 8
THEORY/AURAL SKILLS
Select EACH of the following:
MUSI 1116, 1117, 1311, 1312, 2116, 2117, 2311, 2312 16
TOTAL CREDIT HOURS REQUIRED FOR THIS A.A. DEGREE 60

Note: State universities are required to accept only 60 hours in transfer; therefore, it is strongly suggested that students check with their receiving university regarding the acceptance of any credit hours over the 60-credi-hour maximum. Students may have to make a choice between completing the Field of Study or the degree.

Student’s transcript will indicate the Field of Study has been completed upon successful completion of the following courses:

Four (4) semester hours from MUEN 1121, 1122, 1123, 1131, 1132, 1133, 1134, 1135, 1136, 1137, 1151, 1152, 1153, 2123, 2141

Eight (8) semester hours from MUAP 1101, 1105, 1109, 1113, 1115, 1117, 1121, 1125, 1129, 1133, 1137, 1141, 1145, 1149, 1153, 1157, 1158, 1161, 1165, 1169, 1177, 1181, 2201, 2205, 2209, 2213, 2215, 2217, 2221, 2225, 2229, 2233, 2237, 2241, 2245, 2249, 2253, 2257, 2258, 2261, 2265, 2269, 2277, 2281

Ninteen (19) semester hours from MUSI 1116, 1117, 1307, 1311, 1312, 2116, 2117, 2311, 2312.

[Soapboxmom]

Please note that Derrick Logozzo and Melissa Logan refuse to follow that degree plan. They are putting students into dozens of hours of music nonsense beyond that. Those dozens of hours exhaust students financial aid and land them in out of state tuition. Every attempted hours counts and students cannot pick and choose what to transfer. The state tracks every hour taken at any institution that is state funded.

Undergraduate Funding Limit Rules

This legislation is an attempt to offer a financial incentive to encourage students to complete degree programs in a timely manner. Students are then subject to penalty for excessive hours.
If you are a Texas resident and you enrolled in any Texas public institution of higher education BEFORE Fall 1999 you are exempt from the Undergraduate Funding Limit Rule.
If you are a Texas resident and you enrolled in any Texas public institution of higher education for the first time in Fall 1999 or later, the following provision applies to you:
Students affected by the 45 hour rule
Texas Education Code §54.014 provides that there is now a limit on the number of hours an undergraduate Texas resident may attempt while paying in-state tuition. Students who started Fall 1999 through Summer 2006 and attempt 45 or more semester credit hours beyond the hours required to complete their degree could be charged tuition not exceeding out-of-state tuition rates for these excess hours.
Students affected by the 30 hour rule
Students who started Fall 2006 and thereafter and attempt 30 or more semester credit hours beyond the hours required to complete their degree could be charged tuition not exceeding out-of-state tuition rates for these excess hours. Students who have not selected a major are considered, by state law, to have degree requirements of 120 hours.
Developmental courses are excluded from these rules.
For example: If your approved degree plan requires 120 semester credit hours, and you started your higher education between Fall 1999 and Summer 2006 then for every credit hour you attempt beyond 165 (120 + 45), you will be charged out-of-state tuition rates.
If you started your higher education Fall 2006 and thereafter, then for every credit hour you attempt beyond 150 (120 + 30), you will be charged out-of-state tuition rates.
{Please note that all hours in which a student was enrolled at any Texas public institution of higher education, community college or 4-year public institution, are counted for the 45 or 30 hour cap whether or not the hours are accepted for transfer at Texas A&M University-Commerce.}

“A student may apply for and, if eligible, receive financial aid for attempted credit hours that do not exceed 150 percent of the minimum number of hours required to complete the student’s primary program of study. All hours attempted toward the completion of a program of study will be counted regardless of whether financial aid was received or not. Credit hours transferred to each of the colleges of DCCCD are counted when calculating the 150 percent maximum time frame.”

So in a nutshell, out of state tuition begins at 150 credit hours and financial aid ends at 180 hours. With Melissa Logan and Derrick Logozzo routinely putting students into 100-161 hours we have a hugs problem, not to mention that many of the students are in no way qualified to make it in music and will have to change majors as they need to get jobs to be able to eat!

[Soapboxmom]

College students beware: Changing majors is expensive (so is getting advised by Richland College Music advisors)

By Brandon Farner, Meghan MDermott and Giovanni Pantoja

Special to the Star-Telegram

College students, unsure about what they want to do with their lives, often change majors (or take piles of crap that Melissa Logan and Derrick Logozzo at Richland College have put them into), sometimes more than once.

But students, take note. Your indecisiveness can come with a high price at Texas’ public universities.

At many state schools, changing majors may mean almost starting over on coursework, extending the college stay by a year or more. Once students earn 150 hours — essentially five years of schooling — the state stops subsidizing their education and the students must pay out-of-state tuition, says Lacey Thompson, director of operations at the University of North Texas’ financial aid office.

Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article101438492.html

“And then to complicate matters, this excess-hour tuition you are getting charged, federal aid won’t pay for it, “ Thompson says. That’s because there are two cutoff points for aid, one state and one federal. Texas cuts funding at 150 credit hours and federal aid disappears after 180 hours, meaning students can no longer get federal grants or more-flexible federal loans to finish a degree.

Going to community college first to save money, ironically, can increase the cost. That’s because the average student who completes a two-year associate degree at a Texas community college takes a whopping 98 credit hours to do so, according to a 2013 study of Texas colleges by Complete College America, a nonprofit that aims to improve graduation rates.

To make matters worse, that associate degree may not include many courses needed for a four-year major.

The costs to students are huge. Based on UNT’s tuition calculator, an in-state student will pay about $5,260 in tuition and fees for a 15-credit-hour semester.
Because of the out-of-state tuition and fees, a student with more than 150 hours will pay more than twice that, $11,380.

More than 500 UNT students are in this predicament every semester, meaning they are paying more than $3 million a year in additional tuition and fees.

Malachi Galeano, a UNT student who changed his major from journalism to fashion merchandising to a catchall called integrative studies, is no longer eligible for financial aid. He finds the situation stressful and even considered quitting short of a degree.

But he decided, “you just have to keep pushing.”

Noe Mendoza, another UNT student, changed majors three times, from psychology to kinesiology to biology, and then ended up in integrative studies. “I didn’t know the effects when I changed majors because I was never informed by any adviser of any of the consequences of many hours, “ Mendoza said. (Logozzo and Logan don’t want students to know as they want to fill music chairs. They have lied to students and claimed that financial aid and out of state tuition are nothing to worry about)

“The reason I changed my major was because I felt I had more job opportunities after graduation, but that wasn’t really the case.”
Mendoza has paid tuition on his own for the last two semesters, working over the summer and using credit cards. He still has another year to go.

’Excess college credit problem’

The concept of what’s known as “excessive hours” was intended to encourage Texas students to work faster toward degrees. Starting in 1999, students with 45 or more hours over the number needed to graduate lost state funding.

The state education code was updated in 2005, requiring Texas students who enrolled in fall 2006 or later to complete their degrees with no more than 30 extra credit hours if they want to pay in-state tuition. (Hours earned while in high school or through Advanced Placement exams don’t count.)…

Community college conundrum

While many students start at community colleges because they’re cheaper, students there often accumulate way too many hours.
James Vernado, a longtime counselor at Tarrant County College, says students who enter are often unsure about what they want to do. “People are looking for a comfort level, something that fits their personality. You know a career is like a marriage - you have got to be compatible, “ he said.

…But those courses may not count toward a four-year major. Once students realize that, they will transfer to a four-year school — but by then, they may have 70 credit hours or more…

…UNT would like potential transfer students to talk to its advisers about requirements before they reach the point of transferring…

Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article101438492.html

[gkase]

Consider the BAAS major at unt to retain hours and graduate on time. While your degree may not be in your chosen major your concentrations will be.

[murray93]

I think most students can plan on paying a penalty for not completing undergrad in four years. Students should likely know their schooling won’t be subsidized indefinitely — and this is not unique to Texas public schools. It also includes privates which generally have time limits on merit aid. However, community college advisors should make sure their students are aware of these policies.

Also, I’m not sure it’s the community college’s job to turn away passionate but less skilled music students. If their music skills aren’t at the level needed for a performance degree, there are other options (BA music, business, musicology, etc). Or maybe they can improve in their time at community college. Some of the responsibility should be on the student for assessing and coming to terms with their own abilities.

[Soapboxmom]

Dallas College Richland Campus just lost its NASM (National Association of Schools of Music) accreditation. They best remove the pages touting that!

https://nasm.arts-accredit.org/directory-lists/accredited-institutions/search/?institutionname=&city=&state=&country=&search=true

[Soapboxmom]

10 of the 18 music ensembles at the Dallas College Richland Campus have been cancelled. We weren’t notified until the second day of class, so we are out of luck with no groups to perform in. I was in 3. And, now I am in none!

Derrick Logozzo and Melissa Logan put all of the students they could into their own ensembles. The needed ensembles run by our incredible adjuncts all got dumped. Real music schools offer ensembles that are needed and on degree plans and students don’t have to worry about them making.

Students have other classes and work and can’t be playing musical schedules well after classes have started. They want to graduate in a timely manner and shouldn’t have to deal with this chaotic and mismanaged program.

[Soapboxmom]

In Blackboard and Econnect the cancelled classes still show, so we cannot get refunded. DCCCD / Dallas College is an incredibly disorganized mess!

[Soapboxmom]

One of the few students who transferred out of Dallas College took the Music Theory Placement Test and had to repeat Freshman Music Theory 2 (spring semester) at a Texas University. That means 3 years to finish the degree and having to pay out of state tuition which financial aid does not cover in order to get the Bachelor’s Degree.

The Dallas College Music Program needs to be completely revamped. I was one of 2 audience members for the concert featuring the entire instrumental side of the department. The program is totally DOA!

[Soapboxmom]

This is the advising Dallas College Richland Campus music students get from the music advisors filling their own chairs. I didn’t post this record initially because this student’s parent was a classmate of mine from high school and I wanted to contact them personally before they saw it posted.

An Associate’s Degree is 60 hours. Only 60-66 will transfer. This trusting student has 106 hours of mostly music nonsense and will require another 41+ hours just to get the 60 hour Associate’s. They will be at the 150 credit hour mark that will put them in out of state tuition at their own Texas Universities from the get go should they ever transfer. They will have no financial aid after 180 credit hours. How will they pay for several more years of study out of their own pocket?

Dallas College does not monitor advising adequately which leaves students with no degree or marketable job skills. The taxpayers need to vote in new board members and take a stand against this total waste of tax dollars and harm to students that has still not been addressed. We still have not gotten any answers about what Dallas College is going to do to help the students that were misadvised pay out of state tuition and or tuition with no financial aid remaining available to them. When will the taxpayers and students get answers and real help?