Seamless College Transfer Program Expands Across New England

The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), is slated to begin scaling the New England Transfer Guarantee to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont this month, building on a successful launch in Connecticut and Massachusetts last year.

The expansion of the program, supported by an eight-month planning grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation and the Teagle Foundation, brings the addition of northern New England to the current initiative, which was implemented in both Massachusetts and Connecticut in early 2020, with Rhode Island slated for fall 2021.

NEBHE is partnering with the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC), Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM), Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island (AICURI) and community colleges in the three states to establish admission transfer guarantees. The Guarantee offers associate degree holders guaranteed admission into participating four-year independent institutions, with a focus on the liberal arts.

Participating private institutions in Connecticut, as of this spring, include: Albertus Magnus College, Goodwin University, Mitchell College, Sacred Heart University, Quinnipiac University, University of Bridgeport, University of Hartford, University of New Haven and University of Saint Joseph.  Each has begun the process of developing specific transfer pathways which correlate with the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities’ Transfer Ticket pathways, according to NEBHE.

Connecticut has established a website devoted to the transfer process, providing information for students including participating colleges, a list of majors, and related details. Eligibility requirements are an associate degree from a Connecticut community college and a GPA of 2.0, 2.5 or 3.0 (guaranteed admission based on GPA varies by college). The site notes that “Students interested in transferring to a participating independent institution now have more options for a seamless transfer of credits.”

“In light of great progress in implementing the Guarantee in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, NEBHE is very pleased for the opportunity to leverage important lessons learned as we work with Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont,” said Michael K. Thomas, president and CEO of NEBHE.

“Establishing stronger linkages between our outstanding two-year institutions and our public and independent four-year colleges and universities simply makes sense as we strive to increase both associate and bachelor’s degree completion rates and expand our regional talent pipeline,” Thomas added. 

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, more than half of all the nation’s bachelor's degree awardees received some credit from community colleges. In Connecticut in 2018, 5,700 students transferred from the state’s 12 community colleges into one of the independent colleges in the state.  Official indicate that this initiative will help to grow those numbers.   

Community college students bring a rich diversity of life experiences to a four-year campus, as well as racial and socio-economic diversity, adding to the dynamism of campus life, NEBHE points out. They also note that the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation's report, Persistence: The Success of Students Who Transfer from Community Colleges to Selective Four-Year Institutions found that graduation rates of community college transfer students match or exceed those of students who start at four-year selective institutions as freshmen.

In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, NEBHE is collaborating with state partners to develop a plan to streamline and unify transfer for both in-state public and independent colleges and universities.

NEBHE’s partners include: the Maine Community College System, the University of Maine System, the Maine Independent College Association, the Community College System of New Hampshire, the University System of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire College and University Council, as well as the Community College of Vermont and the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges.

NEBHE will begin exploring the development of a transfer guarantee that will ensure associate degree holders’ acceptance at participating public and independent four-year institutions in these states. Students, who meet eligibility criteria and are covered under the Guarantee, will be able to transfer as juniors and be academically prepared to successfully complete a bachelor’s degree.

The eight-month planning grant will lay the foundation for: building stronger partnerships between community colleges and four-year public and independent institutions in the three states; developing a unified guaranteed admission transfer system for community college students; promoting transfer into liberal arts programs; and increasing the number of community college transfer students who earn a bachelor’s degree.

The southern New England implementation is funded by the Teagle Foundation and the Davis Educational Foundation.

A 2017 national report from the General Accounting Office, found that transfer students lost an average of 43% of their credits while community college transfers to four-year institutions lost 26%. NEHBE underscores that “credit loss hinders student success, unfairly disadvantaging transfer students by impacting time to degree and increasing costs of completing a degree. The Connecticut Guarantee eliminates excessive credit loss through the systemization of transfer pathways, which incorporate clear credit transfer policies.”