So which states have good transfer pathways for students to start at community colleges and then transfer to state universities (including the flagship) to finish their bachelor’s degrees?
This means that most students attending college full time in most mainstream majors will be able to complete the frosh/soph prerequisites for his/her major, be admitted to a state university according to his/her academic performance, and graduate at about the same time as (or no more than a semester later than) they would have if they started as frosh at that state university. Assume that the students are not the outliers who are highly advanced in the subjects of their majors by the time they graduate high school.
Or, to put it another way, for most college-ready (not the academic superstar) students, if they had budget or other constraints that make it difficult to start as a frosh at a state university that they want to attend, would starting at a community college be a reasonably attractive option from an academic and cost standpoint?
Michigan. Henry Ford Community College is a terrific path to any of Michigan’s four-year universities. Oakland County CC is another good feeder. And even though U-M Dearborn is not a CC, many students use it as a transfer path to Ann Arbor.
Illinois CC’s, at least those in the Chicago area, all have articulation agreements with UIUC, UIC, NIU, SIU, ISU etc. Some even have programs with well known local private universities such as DePaul and Roosevelt. To get into UIUC you need very good grades, but the opportunity is there.
Texas A&M does. I know several students that have attended Lone Star College and then have transferred to A&M. Also, Blinn has a good transfer rate into A&M. For the University of Texas, their feeder colleges like UTSA allow students to transfer to UT with certain grades.
Actually, I meant the question on more of a statewide basis, where a student near any community college in the state (as opposed to specific “feeders”) will have a reasonable transfer pathway to any of the state universities for most mainstream majors, assuming that they do well enough to be admitted, of course.
At UF, Florida’s most selective Public University (was going to call it the Flagship…but that would just get the FSU folks excited!), over 1/4 of the undergraduates are transfer students.
Strange as it may seem, Utah. Transferability was been a major priority for the legislature and the regents. We share a common course numbering system state-wide, and if you complete your generals at one state school, they will transfer as a block to any other state school. Establishing residency from OOS takes one year.
Snow College in central Utah is a small, residential CC that lands in the top ten of most two-year-college lists (e.g., #6 at CNNMoney), and room & board is insanely cheap.
Iowa has a reasonably good articulation agreement for all community colleges to Iowa and ISU. I am not sure about UNI, though imagine they are included. UI even rents space in some of the CC’s so that students with certain majors (business and education probably being the main ones) do not need to move to Iowa City, they can complete their BA’s at the CC campus.
Note, though, that even if transferring from a CC is easily facilitated, some majors may be much tougher if starting out at a CC. If you have to fit all engineering/CS classes in the final 2 years instead of spreading them out over 3/4, taking 5 engineering/CS courses at the same time is not easy.
NC has a great agreement between the CC and UNC system (which is every state school). Maps out classes at the CC and what they transfer as. Helps a lot with planning so you can choose wisely as the CC. No guarantee on acceptance though.
^^^^Was just going to post this! NC has a great pathway from the community college system to their 4 year counter-parts of the UNC system. There are 17 campuses of the UNC system.
“The University of North Carolina’s 17 campuses extend from the state’s mountains to the coast. More than 220,000 students are enrolled at 16 universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, the country’s first public residential high school for gifted students.”
Our experience and that of friends has been all good, that of taking additional courses and those wanting to transfer. Some of the more difficult programs to get into can start at the CC, such as radiology tech at the community college and then transfering to UNC Chapel Hill’s BS program in radiology tech. You can get a position upon graduation from the CC after 18 months and then transfer later. Same with the nursing programs at the CC’s and then transfering to the 4 year programs at the UNC campuses that offer that BSN. Son has a friend that has an LD, lowish GPA and an even lower SAT score. Very low. He started out at the local CC, in a criminal justice program, did well transfered to ECU’s 4 year program with a merit scholie after doing well at the CC and finished up his degree in criminal justice at ECU. He was offered a position here in Wake BEFORE graduation. On his way to detective. Many of my kiddo’s friends started out at the CC’s here locally and almost all went on to one of the UNC schools. Saved a bunch of money and did better than they did in high school to get into programs they could not get into from high school.
The pharm programs take cc transfers, the engineering programs do, nursing and others…some of the more difficult majors to get into a the 4 year level. We moved here from CA so we were well exposed to the community college system there and what the benefits can be with a great articulation agreement which NC has to offer.
Definitely agree that Virginia has a great system. The presidents of the community college systems and university systems have worked hard to make the “Guaranteed Admissions” program very attractive. It’s especially good for kids who want to transfer to programs like VT Engineering, UVA etc where they might have a hard time getting in straight out of high school However - you do need a fairly high GPA at CC (like 3.2 - it depends on the agreement) for the guaranteed admissions. The CC does have some intro Engineering classes etc. - so I believe it’s possible to stay on track. There are even Guaranteed Admissions programs with DC universities (American) and out of state (University of New Mexico).
WA state has an excellent transfer pathway. More and more top kids are doing Running Start at their local CC, and graduate high school with an AA. They then go on to the UW, WSU or WWU as juniors. Kids who didn’t do so great in HS also use CC as their gateway to one of these state Us. However I don’t think the transfer is guaranteed as it is in CA.
CA has the best higher ed system in the country bar none. It’s pathway of CC/CSU to UCs is brilliant.