Frémont Higher Education Reform Act
an act to reform higher education in Frémont
Section I (Title)
i. The title of this act shall be the “Frémont Higher Education Reform Act”. This bill may be referred to as “HERA” or the “college reform bill”.
Section II (Definitions)
i. a “public university” is defined as an institution funded by public revenue responsible for post-secondary education.
ii. “FSAT” is defined as an abbreviation for “Frémont Standardized Admissions Test”.
iii. “SAT-E”, or “SAT-Equivalent”, is defined as the rough SAT score that reflects the student’s FSAT test score. When the Frémont Department of Education finishes developing the FSAT scoring system, this terminology will be phased out.
iv. a “Frémont student” is defined as an of-age student residing within the boundaries of Frémont, as defined in the Preamble of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Frémont.
v. “academic tuition” is defined as tuition paid for instruction.
vi. “room-and-board tuition” is defined as tuition paid for food and lodging services.
vii. “local community college” is defined as the community college closest to a prospective attendee’s place of residence, or as all community colleges within 25 miles of a prospective attendee’s place of residence.
Section III (Standardized Admissions Testing in Frémont)
i. The Frémont Department of Education, in conjunction with local, state, regional, and national authorities on education, shall craft the FSAT, a scored test of knowledge to replace the ACT and SAT as an indicator of the academic abilities of a prospective college attendee.
ii. This test must contain both multiple-choice and written sections, to more holistically reflect the critical-thinking abilities of the testee. Additionally, the Frémont Department of Education will create a fair and rigorous system for grading these examinations, with a minimum of five educational professionals assessing the quality of each written section.
iii. Frémont students in high school will not be allowed to sit for the FSAT more than once in a six-month period. Frémont students in community college will not be allowed to sit for the FSAT more than once in a three-month period.
iv. All public secondary schools within the Commonwealth of Frémont will be required to offer the FSAT once it is avaliable at least twice an academic year. Additionally, schools and organizations outside of the Commonwealth of Frémont will be allowed to administer the FSAT on an application basis.
Section IV (Frémont Higher Education Authority)
i. All public universities in the Commonwealth of Frémont will be folded into the Frémont Higher Education Authority System.
ii. The FHEA shall be divided into the following districts:
a. The California District, consisting of the state of California.
b. The Northwest-Pacific District, consisting of the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and all outlying territories under the jurisdiction of Frémont.
c. The Southwestern District, consisting of the states of Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.
d. The Plains District, consisting of the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and Kansas.
iii. Each FHEA district will be responsible for:
a. distributing regional funding to schools in their jurisdiction,
b. redistributing faculty and reallocating dorm space to address capacity issues,
c. granting admission to eligible Frémont students,
d. purchasing or renting facilities previously owned by closed private universities, or purchasing new land to build educational facilities, as needed to address capacity issues,
e. establishing a new tenure system, with the consent of major teachers’s unions,
f. working in conjunction with local public transportation authorities to establish extensive commuter options for colleges in their jurisdiction, and
g. adjusting admissions requirements to address capacity issues.
iv. Due to outstanding political concerns, the public universities of the state of Kansas will not be integrated into the FHEA at this time.
Section V (Curriculum)
i. The FHEA will work to standardize curriculum quality across all public universities. It will do so by working with university faculty and regional education officials to:
a. align course offerings,
b. align course objectives and topics, and
c. ensure that all courses are taught at a universal high standard of quality
ii. The FHEA will aim to achieve maximum curriculum standardization by January 2025.
iii. All FHEA universities, if not already doing so, will be encouraged to offer a general “Honors Track”, a series of accelerated and/or advanced courses for general education or a specific area of study.
iv. The FHEA will establish “flagship schools”, or state universities academically renowned on the national level that would be overloaded with admissions requests due to their existing prestige, with higher admissions standards. The following schools will be considered for flagship status:
a. University of California at Berkeley
b. University of California at Los Angeles
c. University of California at Santa Barbara
d. University of California at Irvine
e. University of California at Davis
f. University of Washington
g. University of Minnesota at Twin Cities
h. Colorado School of Mines
v. After academic alignment and standardization is seen by the FHEA as complete, the need for flagship schools will be re-evaluated.
Section VI (Admissions)
i. Any Frémont student that scores over 1200 SAT-E will be offered admission to all non-flagship FHEA colleges.
ii. Any Frémont student that scores over 1300 SAT-E will be offered admission to the honors program of the FHEA college they choose to attend.
iii. Admissions requirements for “flagship schools” will be set by officials from the school in concern and district FHEA officials, based on school capacity and demand. However, these requirements may not exceed 1400 SAT-E.
iv. Requirements for individual schools may be subjected to change based on school capacity and demand. However, all such changes must be carefully vetted by the FHEA, and requirements may not exceed those enumerated in this bill by 50 SAT-E points.
v. Any Frémont student not meeting these requirements will be admitted to their local community college. If they can maintain a GPA above 3.25, they will be able to transfer to a FHEA college of their choice after two years, provided that they retake the FSAT and score above the admissions threshold for their desired college. .
Section VII (Reinstatement of Tuition)
i. Students whose parents or legal guardians have a combined yearly income of below $70,000 will not be charged academic tuition.
ii. For students whose parents or legal guardians have a combined yearly income of between $70,000 and $270,000 will be charged five cents of yearly academic tuition per dollar of yearly income over $70,000.
iii. For students whose parents or legal guardians have a combined yearly income of over $270,000, $10,000 in yearly academic tuition will be charged.
iv. Students commuting to the FHEA school geographically closest to them will be granted a yearly waiver for public transportation costs.
v. Students attending a school in-state, but not commuting, will be charged $2,000 in yearly room-and-board tuition.
vi. Students attending a school out-of-state whose parents or legal guardians have a combined yearly income of below $70,000 will be charged $3,000 in yearly room-and-board tuition.
vii. Students attending a school out-of-state whose parents or legal guardians have a combined yearly income of between $70,000 and $270,000 will be charged three and a half cents of yearly room-and-board tuition per dollar of yearly income over $70,000.
viii. Students attending a school out-of-state whose parents or legal guardians have a combined yearly income of over $270,000 will be charged $10,000 in yearly room-and-board tuition.
Yes, we're actually gonna do it.
