Summer term is normally the quietest part of the year for colleges, but in 2025 it’ll mark two significant changes going into place that could affect LBCC students.
On July 1, LBCC’s partner school, Oregon State University, will alter its general education requirements from the baccalaureate core program to a new set of graduation requirements called “core education.” The change could affect degree-seeking LBCC students who plan to transfer to OSU.
On that same day, Linn-Benton will be adjusting its financial aid policy so that federal financial aid does not go towards non-degree coursework.
Neither change will be as dire as it seems at first glance, but there’s sure to be some confusion as students and school staff adjust to new policies and structures.
“What is complicated is that these two changes are happening on the same day. … We’ll have to bring doughnuts or something that day,” said Katie Winder, LBCC’s dean of instruction and one of the contacts listed on OSU’s Degree Partnership Program website.
Not going “bacc“
Oregon State’s baccalaureate core (or “bacc core,” as it’s often called) is a set of graduation requirements for every OSU student seeking a bachelor’s degree. However, it’s been due for an update for a while.
“Basically, they haven’t updated their general education since the ’80s, just because it’s such a huge project and so disruptive to everyone,” said Winder. “But they felt like it was really time.”
On its website, the university writes that core ed is the “result of a multi-year curricular reform process that involved faculty, students, administration, employers, alumni, and community college partners.” OSU adds that it’s a “universal educational experience for the 21st-century learner that promotes economic, social, cultural, and environmental progress for the people of Oregon, the nation, and the world.”
Beyond general goals, the switch from bacc core to core ed involves a number of changes in the lower division, with the new general education requirements moving from 45 course credits down to 35.
Winder noted one of the pressures to make the change came from students majoring in STEM: “That’s why it’s a little bit smaller, so that students can fit in all those engineering credits without going too far over four years.”
The decrease may also benefit less credit-intensive majors.
“They may not have a full 90 credits [in community college], so they can choose a second major or a minor,” said Winder. “They can transfer a little earlier, although there are some good reasons not to do that … But yeah, it just gives students a little more choice over what they take.”
The classes are changing as well, with a new name for every general education category and some tweaks to the requirements. Some have the potential to be noticeably different; others are more subtle.
Changes from bacc core → core ed
Some notable tweaks include the speech requirement now renamed “Communications, Media, and Society.” Winder noted that only communications classes fit the criteria at the moment, but more courses could fall under that umbrella in the future.
It’s a similar case for the mathematics requirement, now “Quantitative Literacy and Analysis.” “There’s the possibility for expanding beyond math classes,” said Winder, adding that a statistics course now fits the requirement at LBCC.
There’s also one fewer class to take in the lab science and humanities requirements, while physical education (PE) is no longer a general education requirement.
The updates might seem confusing at first, but the goal is a more streamlined and useful foundation of classes for undergraduates. However, the changes don’t apply to every LBCC student.
For one, students who won’t be transferring to OSU don’t have to worry. But for those who are planning on graduating as a Beaver, there are still two main ways to continue under the bacc core plan that most students started on: graduate with an associate’s degree from LBCC, negating the need for a transfer plan, or enroll in Oregon State’s Dual Partnership Program (DPP) before March 3 to be grandfathered into the old system.
Students in the latter category can still choose to switch to the core ed plan down the road if they find it suits their educational journey better.
Winder noted one major caveat: High-GPA students who enroll in the DPP in any term other than the fall will lose their eligibility for OSU’s Finley Grant that academic year, making a meeting with an advisor a must before the March 3 deadline.
“We haven’t come across anyone who we couldn’t figure out a plan for, but that is the one nuance that has been a problem for students,” said Winder.
Still, the ripple effect of the general education changes will be felt across the entire school.
None of the classes from the bacc core system are grandfathered into core ed, meaning OSU is individually reviewing each course that could be eligible for general education. That means that a number of popular LBCC classes could see curriculum changes in the future.
“They aren’t actually requiring that we do a lot of adjustment,” said Winder. “But we want to because we want our students, when they show up at Oregon State, to be trained in a similar way to students that started there.”
However, the review process means that the list of classes eligible for core ed might start small in summer term before growing in the future.
“OSU is doing a really comprehensive review,” said Winder. “They are a little further behind where they want to be at this point in terms of approving classes. And we (LBCC), of course, are downstream of that. … There are a couple categories that are going to be a little light in terms of the number of courses we’ll have next year.”
Winder said that there will still be plenty of class spots available, with LBCC planning to expand the available sections of categories limited by the review.
The change to core ed also opens up the opportunity for new classes at LB.
“Just because a class used to be in the bacc core does not mean that it’s in the new core ed,” said Winder. “They’re being really careful to think of this core education set of classes as general education – so really thinking about that as exposing students to new ideas and foundational skill sets. And so the content isn’t quite as important – it’s about the skills that you develop in the class. [Core ed] opens the door for fun stuff.”
Winder previewed some of that “fun stuff” – “There’s a class that’s just on ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales,’ or one that we’re developing on global youth literature, which is really cool. Who doesn’t love YA lit? There’s one on natural disasters – from Hollywood to reality – that we’re developing that’s going to be a really fun science course for non-science majors.”
The changes will also be felt by school staff. Beyond the new class offerings and curriculum changes, the removal of physical education from OSU’s general education criteria is likely to reduce enrollment in the Linn-Benton PE department’s offerings.
“I think that’s just how the math will work out,” said Winder. “But PE 231 and other PE classes are still part of the Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer degree. So we’ll still be offering those courses. We have a pretty robust exercise and sports science degree, and lots of students take the physical activity courses just as a way to promote their well-being while in college. So for sure, it’s not going away or anything. But what they teach probably will shift a little bit.”
The switch to core ed is unlikely to be as cataclysmic as some might fear, but LBCC still faces the challenge of getting everyone on the same page ahead of July 1.
“When students reach out to us, it’s not rough,” said Winder. “What worries me is the students that may not have heard of this somehow. So, we are tracking the students that we think want to go to OSU. … We are determined and committed to making sure that no student is surprised by this.”
Linn-Benton’s DPP coordinator Nick May echoed that sentiment: “It is very important that students who intend to transfer to OSU reach out to their advisor or the Transfer Center to make sure that they are on the right track, and get a plan made if they haven’t,” he said.
“The vast majority of students I have worked with are all set, so there really isn’t cause for alarm. However, it is important for folks to have a sense of urgency about getting these matters taken care of so that they can ensure that the current degree path they are on will be ‘locked in’ at OSU.”
May said he believes the change to core ed “will be great for students” once implemented.
There might be some confusion at first, but Winder sees the modernization of Oregon State’s general education requirements as a step in the right direction: “That’ll help students in the long run. … OSU will have a lot more classes on the list, and so we’ll have really robust offerings. Overall, I think it’s a wonderful change. But to be totally honest, the transition is probably going to be rough for some students. Those kinds of changes are just hard.”
A busy July
The start of the summer will likely correlate with a flurry of phone calls to LBCC as Oregon State’s general education changes aren’t the only notable update in July. Linn-Benton will also be changing its financial aid policy to comply with a requirement that federal financial aid cannot go towards non-degree classes.
How to tell the difference?
“Federal financial aid will only pay for courses that are in a student’s degree plan,” said Winder, “which basically means they show up somewhere in your DegreeWorks audit – the top box in DegreeWorks will show if there are problems.”
The good news for students is that the ruling only affects federal financial aid, such as that from the Pell Grant. Money from state and private financial aid, such as the Oregon Promise Grant and LBCC Foundation scholarships, can still go towards non-degree approved classes.
Ahead of the change, LBCC is working on a plan to make the switch easier for students.
“We’re changing several of our degrees to incorporate more of the pathways that students have been using,” said Winder. “And then we’re changing our process to ask for substitutions to make that a lot more streamlined, so that when students are mindfully doing something different than the degree plan and they’re working with an advisor, that can be approved.”
It’s important to note that electives remain unaffected by the change – if you’re a student who who will be taking 10 additional credits of electives due to the change from bacc core to core ed, those classes can still be covered by federal financial aid as long as they fit under the degree plan.
Winder said that the update will affect the process for changing majors, as making the switch in the middle of a term will result in some classes temporarily not falling under a degree plan. As a result, students will have to make sure to switch majors in between terms, or work with their advisor so the change doesn’t officially take place until the beginning of the next.
“We’re going to have students trying potentially to change their major in response to core education,” said Winder. “And they are just going to need to do that prior to July 1. So, there will be a couple of messages that are very carefully designed going out to students about this change.”
Winder noted the school’s efforts to inform students ahead of both the general education and financial aid changes on July 1.
“It’s just challenging from a messaging point of view,” she said. “Making sure everybody understands what’s happening and how they’re different from each other.”
The moral of the story? It wouldn’t be a bad idea to meet with your academic advisor ahead of the change. And maybe eat a doughnut.
This article originally appeared in the February 2025 edition of The Commuter.