AskCT - Simplifying College Transfer

For the majority of people attending college and eventually graduating, the path to a college degree is not a straight shot from high school graduation and through four years of college. Today, more than the majority of college graduates experience a bumpy path to a college degree. They attend multiple institutions, change majors and stop and start along their path. With more than 18 million people attending some form of college in the United States, it is no wonder earning a degree has gotten complicated.

Selectivity vs. Degree Completion

The legacy of academic traditions and selectivity are still widely followed using a variety of attributes to rank and select prospective students. Even with that selectivity, nearly half of the students admitted decide to leave the institution they have chosen for a variety of reasons. The path is not always clear, even with degree requirements or the instructions offered by websites everywhere. With 10,000 schools, we have 10,000 different ways of doing things. Degree completion focuses on what the student needs to earn a credential. Selectivity focuses on how the institution maintains the quality and brand - which reinforces rigor - and often places student degree completion 2nd.

Part of the challenge of higher education broadly is scale. As public policy and industries call for greater access and college completion rates to escalate, we can see the lack of scale in a system designed to serve a select minority, not the diverse majority of people in the workforce who have varied backgrounds, social economic factors and support levels. In response to global markets and the changing economy, most of our higher education system is still doing things the way they have for two hundred years. Yet, there are institutions learning and shifting their emphasis, realizing their future will be shaped by this new world where knowledge is accessible everywhere including the palm of our hand.

As a business, higher education is trying to cope with standard paths to proactively guide students. Repeating something mechanically offers scale. Making something very flexible and custom does not. Colleges prepare thousands of Transfer Articulation Agreements each year hoping to guide millions of students. Many of these agreements and transfer guides are hidden in desk drawers or remote links on websites after the marketing hype and celebration between two sister colleges subsides. The press releases are forgotten. Students continue on their bumpy progression all the same. CollegeTransfer.Net has collected over 20,000 transfer agreements is collecting more every day. Search the largest database of transfer agreements by source and destination school or by keywords - like accounting.

À la carte

Institutions have a legacy of open registrations and freedom to choose coursework, which means students continue to chart coursework independently. They make their choices often without adequate advice, given the ratios of advisors to students on many college campuses. They take courses out of sequence, as if their itinerary were made helter-skelter by design, instead of following a simple checklist of courses in a sequence that is needed to satisfy degree requirements from the start. If we delivered any product with such flexibility, we would see firsthand the lack of scale and the complications introduced. So, if you want to check transferability one course at a time, use the Course Search and view Course Equivalencies. Or, use the Will My Credits Transfer wizard to save your prior courses and have the system find your best transfer destinations.

If you are going to transfer, then select and follow a transfer agreement designed for your major.

The path to a degree could be more narrow and selective. It does not need to be so open ended for students, which is very confusing to many. If higher education as an industry did a better job assessing a student and their interests, we could better place them into programs where they will excel at and complete. If students followed the planned steps offered in Transfer Agreements or custom plans crafted for them like a course itinerary, they could save thousands of dollars and one or two semesters.

Related Articles and Topics

Explore the Top Ten Reasons Students and Learners Transfer Colleges and Universities. Transfer can be proactive and reactive. See how your circumstances stack up against the common characteristics leading students to change institutions and their programs of study.

Choosing Your Major: A list of popular college majors and resources you can review such as related occupations, salary and the types of tasks, work environment and expected requirements. Match your interests and explore what majors that will motivate you to finish college.

The Undecided Major: As a student continuing your college education, you will probably be asked one question more than any other: “What’s your major?” You might be embarrassed to not have an answer and a declared a major. Here is a short article on how to cope with be undecided.

Majors Safe From Outsourcing: Review the top list of programs and majors safe from outsourcing in today's global economy.

I Want to Change My Major or Choose My Major: Don't rush into choosing a major just because everyone asks you "what is your major?" A major is not a life sentence. It is just a concentration that proves you can focus and apply yourself.

Best Jobs by College Majors: The top ten majors are analyzed to show annual earnings. Majors like Biology, Business Management, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, English, History, Political Science and Psychology are ranked based upon average salary.

Credit for Life Experience: Life is learning. Colleges and Universities are giving credit for life experiences that relate to courses they offer. Explore PLA (Prior Learning Assessment) and the growing acceptance of it.

Testing Out of College Courses: Think you have to take every course required by your college or university? Think again. If you have the knowledge, take an exam and skip the course. These examinations are well respected and supported by many institutions.

Other Articles and AskCT Questions may be worth exploring.

This article was written by AcademyOne's CEO and Founder David K. Moldoff who has worked in higher education for over thirty five years. Mr. Moldoff has been developing student centered enrollment systems since the 70's spanning multiple institutions, policies and practices. Mr. Moldoff graduated from Drexel University through the cooperative education program and majored in economics with a minor in marketing.