Guarantee: Warranty of Degree, Diploma and Technical Certificates of Credit Graduates
Technical College System of Georgia Policy
As a demonstration of our confidence in the quality of our Technical College programs, the Technical College System of Georgia warrants every graduate of our Technical College programs offering a technical certificate of credit, diploma, or associate degree as follows:
The warranty guarantees that the graduate has demonstrated the knowledge and skills and can perform each competency as identified in the industry-validated Standard or Program Guide. Any program graduate who is determined to lack such competence shall be retrained at no cost to the employer or the graduate for tuition or instructional fees.
A claim against the warranty may be filed by either an employer in conjunction with a graduate or a graduate if the individual is unable to perform one or more of the competencies contained in the industry-validated Standard or Program Guide, including failure to pass a State of Georgia required licensing examination.
This warranty is applicable only to graduates of a technical certificate of credit, diploma, or degree program who entered the program subsequent to the mandated standards implementation date.
The warranty shall remain in effect for two years immediately following the date of graduation and shall be honored by any Technical College that offers the program from which the individual graduated.
This warranty shall be issued in writing to each graduate entering a program on or after the mandated standards implementation date for the applicable program standard.
The Commissioner shall develop procedures for implementing this policy such that the Technical College conducting the retraining under the warranty may recover the institutional costs of retraining from the Technical College that conducted the original program.
The Commissioner shall resolve any disputes pertaining to this warranty policy.
Columbus Technical College Procedure
Columbus Technical College has curriculum standards based on industry-validated specifications for each occupational program. These standards allow all Technical College System of Georgia Colleges to offer a warranty, guarantying the education of its students. Should an employer or faculty member find that a graduate does not meet the standard, Columbus Technical College will retrain the graduate at no instructional cost to the employer or graduate.
Warranty Claims can be initiated by an employer, student, or faculty member. The first point of contact for employers will be the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE).
OIE will triage the warranty claim to the respective academic department. The academic department is responsible for contacting the employer and the graduate to agree upon a feasible course of action for retraining. Once the course of action is agreed upon, the academic department will notify OIE within 30 days of the initial complaint.
Warranty Claims initiated by the graduate or faculty member based on licensure, board, and/or certification scores should be resolved within the respective academic department. Any graduate that does pass a licensing, board, or certification exam will automatically qualify for a warranty claim. The faculty will work to retrain the graduate for a second chance at passing the exam. Once the warranty claim is initiated and recorded appropriately, the academic department will notify OIE of the claim within 30 days.
In either instance, the academic department must work with Student Affairs to ensure the student is coded properly in Banner and enrolled with the appropriate code.
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness forwards all warranty claim reports to the Office of the Commissioner.
Baucham, Monique
Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness
mbaucham@columbustech.edu