Transcript Building Blocks for Statewide Transfer Systems

Building Blocks for Statewide
Transfer Systems
Mike McCauley, Director
David Griffey, Assistant Director
Larry Ottinger, Transfer Articulation Specialist
Institute for the Study of Transfer Students
Addison, Texas
January 23, 2008
Perspectives on Transfer
Executive level leadership: Transfer is simple, course A at
your institution A equals course B at my institution B
Legislators: Transfer is simple, course “A” at institution
“A” equals course “B” at institution “B”
At Ball State we learned that 40% of our transfer
equivalencies were NOT one-to-one course matches.
(12,000 courses of the 30,000 we have)
Largest percentage of students with transfer credit are
your “native” students, not new transfer students
Major Transfer Issues to be Addressed
• Student transfer credit
expectations not being met
• Realization of fiscal impact on
federal and state financial aid
• Influence of proprietary
institutions on state and
federal legislators
• Lack of accessibility of
transfer information
• Minimal use of 21st century
technology to communicate
transfer information
• Out of date and inaccurate
transfer information
• Minimal participation by
flagship institutions
• Lack of statewide leadership
in transfer enterprise
• Lack of statewide principles
governing transfer policies
• Questionable transfer policies
and practices
Organizing the Effort
Leadership:
State Boards of Education
State Commissions for Higher Education
State Legislatures
Individual Institutions taking the initiative
Organizing the Effort
Statewide Transfer and Articulation Committee – STAC (comprised
of faculty representatives from public and private institutions)
– oversight group for course equivalencies
– oversight group for program articulations
– establish transfer principles
– maintain list of transfer contacts by institution
– develop and maintain Core Transfer Library (CTL)
– annual progress report to Indiana General Assembly
System Development Committee – SDC (comprised of
representatives from public and private schools)
– Determine Budget
– Choose Appropriate Software
– Select Host Institution Site (development, implementation,
maintenance of system)
History of Indiana Initiative
• Feb. 1992 – Indiana General Assembly passed P.L. 191992, which mandated 30 semester hours (10 courses) of
gen. ed. courses transfer among state institutions.
• April 1998 – Ball State’s Automated Course Transfer
System (ACTS) becomes the first fully interactive webbased course equivalency system.
• April 2000 – ICHE announced the Transfer Indiana
(transferIN.net) Initiative
• September 2000 –ICHE (SDC) selectd the Miami
University CAS software and named Ball State
University to host the Transfer Indiana Central Office
(TICO)
History of Indiana Initiative
• Sept. 2001 – Articulation agreements concluded
with all public 4-year campuses for eight VU
A.A./A.S. degrees.
• March 2002 – STAC completed the Transfer IN
(TIN) course grid, identifying equivalencies for
40 most frequently taken courses; (over 11,000
course equivalency decisions made on 14
campuses)
• May 2002 – ICHE approved Principles Guiding
Statewide Transfer and Articulation in Indiana
developed through STAC
History of Indiana Initiative
• April 2003 –HB 1209 reinforced role of STAC
(made it official) and demanded accountability.
• 2004-2005 –Refined and expanded the TIN Grid
• 2006 –Additional legislation enacted requiring 12
additional program articulations; required that the
course articulations reach 70 and be known as “Core
Transfer Library” courses
• August 2006 – Funding provided for the Transfer
Indiana Central Office and the transfer system pilot
project
• April 2007 – Funding for 2007-09 biennium
approved by Indiana General Assembly
Securing the Funds
• Indiana General Assembly (2003, 2005, 2007)
• Private funding sources (2003, 2005)
• Pilot project – 2006/07 (4 public) ($400,000)
• Funding from legislature 2007, with stipulations:
70 CTL courses, 12 program articulations (2 x 2)
• Funding for 2007-09 biennium was $1.7m
Statewide Transfer Principles
Principles Guiding Statewide Transfer and
Articulation in Indiana
• Faculty primacy
• Equal partners
• Collective
responsibility
• Comparable treatment
of students
• Course-to-course
transfer
• Articulation for
majors
• Inclusion of
Independents
• Constructive
evaluation
• Wide communication
Statewide Transfer Principles
Principles Guiding Statewide Transfer
and Articulation in Indiana
•
•
•
•
Currency
Multi-directional transfer
Responsiveness to student problems
Appropriate timing of transfer
Using Technology to Support Effort
Major Transfer Issues
• Student transfer credit expectations not being
met
– All credit will be accepted
– Each course will have equivalent(s)
– All courses will apply to intended major
• Transfer policies will result in equitable
treatment (treat same as native students)
•Accurate and comprehensive evaluation of
transfer credit prior to application
•Can finish in “normal” amount of time
Major Transfer Issues
• Realization of fiscal impact on federal and
state financial aid
– Students taking same course at two or more
institutions and federal/state student financial
aid paying for them
– Students extending education beyond the 4 or 5
year time frame
Major Transfer Issues
• Influence of proprietary institutions on state
and federal legislators
– Lobbying efforts of proprietary institutions had
an affect on congressional leaders
– “Institutions could not deny acceptance of
transfer credit based solely on accrediting
status of sending institution”
– If Secretary of Education recognized the
accrediting agency, must accept
– AACRAO call-in/email-in campaign kept this
from passing.
Major Transfer Issues
• Minimal use of 21st century technology to
communicate transfer information
– Course Applicability System (CAS)
– ARTSYS employed in Maryland and New
Jersey
– Academy One, Inc.
– College Source, Inc.
Major Transfer Issues
• Out of date and inaccurate (not comprehensive)
transfer information
– Approximately 40% of all transfer credits are not
one-to-one “matches”
– Static lists of course equivalents (not maintained in a
systematic manner)
– Lists with course equivalents typically listed only
ONE equivalent
Major Transfer Issues
• Minimal participation by flagship
institutions
– Minnesota has MNSCU and the University of
Minnesota campuses
– Pennsylvania has a “statewide system” that
does not necessarily include Penn State, Pitt,
and Temple
Major Transfer Issues
• Lack of statewide leadership in transfer
enterprise
–
–
–
–
Washington has some schools participating
California has some schools participating
Texas has common numbering system*
Florida has a common numbering system*
* = Common numbering system is a 20th Century solution to
a 21st Century problem!
Major Transfer Issues
• Lack of statewide principles governing
transfer practices: States with guiding
principles are
–
–
–
–
–
Indiana
Illinois
Arizona
Ohio
New Jersey?
Major Transfer Issues
• Lack of accessibility of transfer information
– Indiana, Public (16) campuses; private (31) schools
– “Clicks” to locate any transfer information
• Ranged from 2 to 5 with median of 3.65
– Linked to state site (TransferIN.net), 30%
– Referenced Core Transfer Library, 30%
– Pre-admission evaluations provided, 40%
Major Transfer Issues
• Questionable transfer policies and practices
– Common policies:
H.S. Transcripts, 100%;
College Transcripts, 100%;
Minimum Grade Point Average 2.0 = 60%, (2.12.5=10%, 2.6-3.0=2%, No minimum = 9%,NIF 19%
“Good Standing” required at 93% of the schools
Minimum grade acceptable was ‘C’ for 68% of the
schools, ‘C-’ for 30%, and ‘D-’ for 2%
Major Transfer Issues
• Questionable transfer policies and practices
– Common policies:
– 52% of the institutions imposed a limit on transfer credits
– A resident credit requirement was stated by all schools,
although a variety of actual policies. There is a difference
between a residency requirement for tuition and for
transfer credits in state supported institutions.
– Each school required payment of an application fee,
which ranged from $20 to $50
– Private institutions, in 40% of the schools, required a
letter of recommendation from transfer students
Transfer Credit Elements
Acceptability
Equivalency
Applicability
Acceptability
Will accept not more than 66 semester hours of acceptable credit
from a junior/ community college, not more than 94 semester hours
from a 4-year institution
No more than 60 semester hours of credit from a junior/community
college accepted
? No more than 98 semester hours may be transferred (what does
“transferred” mean?)
Up to 12 hours from a technical school will be accepted
? Credit from Bible colleges limited to maximum of 30 hours of Bible
courses, and another 30 in non-Bible courses (no mention of
acceptability, equivalency, or applicability in this policy)
Acceptability
? A maximum of 60 credits may be transferred from a
junior/community college. Accepts a maximum of 90 credits toward
a baccalaureate degree from other colleges and universities (what does
“transferred” mean?)
? Students may transfer up to 60 semester credits from an accredited
2-yr. institution, 70 with an associate degree, and 90 from an
accredited 4-yr. school (what does “transfer” mean?)
? A maximum of 64 hours of credit may be transferred from an
accredited 2 yr. college (what does “transferred” mean?)
Acceptability
Accepts a maximum of 90 credits toward a baccalaureate
degree from other colleges and universities
A maximum of 6 credit hours will be accepted for 1
semester and 12 credit hours for 2 semesters. A maximum
of 9 credit hours may be earned in two summer sessions.
College general education requirements may not be
fulfilled by transfer credit; transfer credit is elective credit
only. Only electives that have an equivalent in the St.
Mary’s curriculum may be accepted for transfer credit.
(does “earned” mean accepted?)
Acceptability
? A maximum of 64 hours of credit may be transferred
from an accredited two-year college (what does “transferred”
mean?)
? A maximum of 64 credit hours may be transferred from
a regionally accredited a community/junior college (what does
“transferred” mean?)
? The maximum number of credit hours that may be
transferred is 94 or 102, depending on the student’s major
(what does “transferred” mean?)
Will accept up to 65 credit hours for students transferring
hours toward a baccalaureate degree
Equivalency
Course work taken at another institution for which there is
an equivalent course will generally be transferred as
credit in the equivalent courses. Other course work will
be transferred as “undistributed” as reviewed by the
appropriate department (what does “transferred” mean?)
Credits transferred from an accredited 4-yr. college may
be accepted based on the course level taken at the
transfer institution
Applicability
Students can apply up to two years (60 semester hours) of
transferred credits from a junior/community college. Up to 90
semester hours of transferred credit can be applied from a fouryear institution. (2) (what does “transferred” mean?)
A maximum of 45 credit hours of transfer credit may be applied to
an associate degree; a maximum of 90 credits may be applied to
the B.G.S. degree
Ordinarily, the maximum number of transfer credit hours that may
be counted toward the minimum 120 credit hours necessary for
graduation is 90. Not more than 60 credit hours earned in
approved junior colleges may be applied toward a degree. (does
“counted” mean accepted or applied?)
Applicability
Credit is granted for work with a satisfactory grade (“C” or above)
taken at an approved college or university, provided the courses
are applicable to the curriculum the student wishes to pursue (does
“granted” mean accepted?)
Only credits that are applicable to Martin University’s degree plan
are accepted
Credit accepted only for course work which applies toward degree
requirements
Contact Information
• Michael McCauley [email protected]
• David Griffey [email protected]
• Larry Ottinger [email protected]