Building Blocks for Statewide Transfer Systems

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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
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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

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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• Out of date and inaccurate transfer information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

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Organizing the Effort

• Leadership
• State Boards of Education
• State Commissions for Higher Education
• State Legislatures
• Individual Institutions taking the initiative

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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)

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History of Indiana Initiative

• Feb. 1992 Indiana General Assembly passed P.L.
  19-1992, which mandated 30 semester hours (10
  courses) of gen. ed. courses transfer among state
  institutions.
• April 1998 Ball States Automated Course
  Transfer System (ACTS) becomes the first fully
  interactive web-based 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)

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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

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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

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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

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Statewide Transfer Principles
Principles Guiding Statewide Transfer and
Articulation in Indiana

• Articulation for majors
• Inclusion of Independents
• Constructive evaluation
• Wide communication

• Faculty primacy
• Equal partners
• Collective responsibility
• Comparable treatment of students
• Course-to-course transfer

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Statewide Transfer Principles
Principles Guiding Statewide Transfer and
Articulation in Indiana

• Currency
• Multi-directional transfer
• Responsiveness to student problems
• Appropriate timing of transfer

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Using Technology to Support Effort
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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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!
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Major Transfer Issues

• Lack of statewide principles governing transfer
  practices States with guiding principles are
• Indiana
• Illinois
• Arizona
• Ohio
• New Jersey?

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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

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Major Transfer Issues

• Questionable transfer policies and practices
• Common policies
• H.S. Transcripts, 100
• College Transcripts, 100
• Minimum Grade Point Average 2.0 60,
  (2.1- 2.510, 2.6-3.02, 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

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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

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Transfer Credit Elements
Acceptability Equivalency Applicability
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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)
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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?)
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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. Marys curriculum may be
accepted for transfer credit. (does earned mean
accepted?)
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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 students major (what does
transferred mean?) Will accept up to 65 credit
hours for students transferring hours toward a
baccalaureate degree
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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

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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
  four-year 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?)

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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
  Universitys degree plan are accepted
• Credit accepted only for course work which
  applies toward degree requirements

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Contact Information

• Michael McCauley mmccaule_at_bsu.edu
• David Griffey dgriffey_at_bsu.edu
• Larry Ottinger lottinge_at_bsu.edu