May 16, 2008
Giving Credit Where Transfer Credit Is Due
In a society where people often pick up and leave one town for another, staying on track for a college degree becomes a problem, since course credits may not move when people do. In Pennsylvania, 32 colleges hope to find a solution to this problem in a new Web site.
The Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Center, launched this week, allows users to search for transferable courses and get step-by-step instructions for transferring credit. There are 14 state community colleges, 14 state universities, three private colleges, and one state-related institution on the site. These colleges and universities guarantee that transfer credits will be accepted if students follow the steps outlined on the site.
State Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak said that the current process of credit transfer is loaded with bureaucratic obstacles, and as a result students don’t get the credit they deserve when moving between institutions.
Now, with a few mouse clicks, someone can find out that World Literature I at Bucks County Community College meets transfer standards for English 115 at the Community College of Allegheny County. — Josh Fischman
Posted on Friday May 16, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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This is an excellent concept. A lot of students and their families try to save money on a college degree by taking basic coursework at a community college and then transferring to a university. But if the university doesn’t accept the credit transfer, then the student/family, rather than save money, actually wasted what they spent. Granted, a university may not offer comparable courses and therefore cannot grant credit, but when they can, they should do so, rather than forcing the student to re-take a course at the much higher tuition rate. More students are likely to earn a degree if they can transfer cc credit; and more universities are likely to enroll transfer students, and thus positively impact their overall enrollment, if they accept the transfer credit. It is of tremendous value to a student to be able to plan his sequence of courses if he can find out in advance what will transfer and what will not.
— Deborah May 16, 02:13 PM #
This is a great concept, and it should be adopted in all 50 states. I hope the State of Pennsylvania tracks institutional acceptance of credit and publishes the data so that students can avoid institutions that routinely deny transfers of large amounts of credit. A little sunshine on the transfer of credit issue will go a long way to helping students and their parents, as well as the state and federal governments, save money.
— Bob Harris May 19, 06:04 AM #
OMG, I can’t believe it — Georgia is actually ahead of the game on this?!? The University System of Georgia has had a nearly universal core curriculum for at least 10 years. If you successfully complete an area of the core curriculum at one school in the USG, the completion must be recognized by all other institutions in the system. Is this really so rare?
— Sally May 19, 06:59 AM #
Indiana also has a website for their Core Transfer Library at www.transferin.net/CTL/
— Indiana May 19, 08:15 AM #
Ohio has a similar credit transfer program. “The Transfer Assurance Guides include the Ohio Transfer Module [general education requirements] – both required and elective courses, and then moves beyond those courses into additional hours in pre-major and major courses. Courses in a TAGs are guaranteed to transfer and apply directly to the major. … There are 38 TAGs in 8 specific discipline areas presently involving 6,500 plus courses. The TAGs are developed, approved, and monitored by Ohio’s public institutions for higher education.”
— Peter Murray May 19, 08:52 AM #
My daughter took courses during the summer at the local community colleges —- to ensure acceptability of credits —- she made sure prior to registration that her college (Mount Holyoke College) had fully reviewed the courses she intended to take —- if I recollect correctly she even had the professor at the community college telephone Mount Holyoke College and speak directly with them (prior to enrolling).
— zahid May 19, 09:20 AM #
Go to assist.org and see the articulation agreements mandated by state law between California’s Community College’s and the University of California and California State University systems. This program mandating a unified general education pattern and agreements addressing major preparation courses has been in place for decades.
It was under a Republican Governor, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, that California enacted the master plan for higher education. That was decades ago. So, if you want a model, look no further than the left coast.
— Bob Harris May 19, 10:14 AM #
Arizona also has an articulated gen ed curriculum, and has for at least 12 years or so – a miracle considering we are usually about 48th in education rankings. We also have a course articulation system for electives and lists of common courses for majors between our CCs & Universities that helps students and advisors make decisions before enrolling or transferring. I believe a national version is under development, voluntary participation, of course.
— Linda May 19, 12:01 PM #
Michigan has recently unveiled a system where students can find equivalencies for courses taken at any participating institution. Participation is voluntary and in the first 7 months 70% of Michigan institutions are already participating.
It is sponsored by the Michigan Associaltion of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (MACRAO) in partnership with Michigan State University and received the AACRAO Ockerman award this past April for Outstanding professional activity by a state or regional association.
www.MchiganTransferNetwork.org
— Paul Schmidt May 19, 04:20 PM #
I would NOT use California as an example for articulation. The California Master Plan for Higher Education designed in the 1960’s had transfer within its basic design; this was never really implemented. Currently all 10 campuses of the University of California system independently design most of their programs and independently articulate courses with all 109 community colleges. There is a articulation system between community colleges and the 23 campuses of California State University System, but this system underwent a shake-up in the recent past. There was a state wide effort to coordinate majors programs called the intersegmental major preparation articulated curriculum program (http://www.cal-impac.org), but the state cut the funding before its mission had been completed. Students do transfer and they mainly get credit for their courses, but its a chaotic system that could use a lot of work. The system is helped by the fact that students from a local community college mainly transfer to particular neighboring institutions and those community colleges can match their curricula with the most likely institution. The main headaches occur when a student from the North part of the state transfers to a university in the South part, or vice versa. This sometimes triggers a review of course outlines, etc. The other problem occurs when a UC changes its curriculum; they do this without consultation with other UC’s or with their neighboring feeded schools and it triggers a traumatic scramble to sort out curriculum issues.
— jimdekloe May 19, 04:26 PM #
Comment 10 is so far off-base that it’s laughable. Assist.org provides a vast articulation database for courses among the community college, CSU, and UC systems. It is mandated by state law and institutional policy. The data may not always be presented in perfect fashion, but they are reliable. If a CC course is listed as equivalent to a CSU or UC course (anywhere in the state :P), then the entire CSU and UC systems are mandated to accept it. See for yourself: http://www.assist.org
— SG May 19, 05:49 PM #
http://scns.fldoe.org/scns/public/pb_index.jsp
This is the link for
Florida’s Statewide Course Numbering System. Created in the 1960s, it is a key component of Florida’s K-20 seamless system of articulation. The system provides a database of post- secondary courses at public vocational- technical centers, community colleges, universities, and participating nonpublic institutions.The assigned numbers describe course content to improve research, assist program planning,and facilitate the transfer of students.
Not to discount Pennsylvania’s effort, FLA has been ahead of the curve in post secondary articulation…..surprising indeed from a state where primary and secondary education has lagged the rest of the country….
— Rdiaz May 27, 12:39 PM #
The Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI) has provided a statewide process supporting transferability since 1998. Illinois is one of many states participating in CAS, which is a developing national system for determining course transferability.
— CDonovan May 27, 03:27 PM #
New Jersey also something similar, The New Jersey Transfer Initiative (NJTransfer). It’s good to see that states are taking this approach. New legislation within the state (which is long overdue) will also assist with better articulation between community colleges and state institutions.
— Dave May 30, 12:34 PM #
Wisconsin also has this in place, and has had for some time. See http://www.uwsa.edu/tis/ for a system/state-wide immediate online answer to how a course will transfer from one institution to another. And some of us are posting this info for non-system institutions on our individual websites. Having been in MI previously, MI is another great example of this!
— Cherie Hatlem Jun 3, 01:35 PM #