CSCU and UConn: More Options Available for Community College Students Transferring

Today the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU), along with the University of Connecticut (UConn), presented to state legislators on-going efforts to improve community college transfer via CSCU’s Transfer and Articulation Policy (TAP) and UConn’s Guaranteed Admissions Program (GAP).  

“Many students start at our community colleges with the intent to move on to a four-year university. The majority of them stay within our state’s public universities either at CSCU or at UConn,” said CSCU President Mark Ojakian. “These degrees and programs make it easier get a Bachelor’s by making sure that students’ credits will transfer into degree programs.”

“Transfer students are a critical part of UConn’s student body, and the University as a whole benefits from the enthusiasm and work ethic they bring to our campuses,” said Nathan Fuerst, UConn’s assistant vice president for enrollment and director of admissions. “UConn and the CSCU system are partners in our shared commitment to provide the highest quality education to students at the lowest cost.”

CSCU announced that 22, known as Transfer Tickets, will be available in the fall 2017 semester to Community College students wanting to transfer to the four Connecticut State Universities (Central, Eastern, Southern, and Western) or to Charter Oak State College. Transfer Ticket students receive careful, intensive advising, and register and apply for housing at the same time as rising juniors at the state universities. More information can be found here.

The first 11 of these transfer degrees were approved by the Board of Regents in March 2016 and have been available to students this academic year. With the addition of eleven more next fall, community college students will be able to enroll in 60-credit transfer degree programs that lead to degrees in Art, Biology, Business (Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, and Marketing), Chemistry, Communication, Computer Science, Criminology, Early Childhood Teaching Credential, English, Exercise Science, French, German, History, Italian, Mathematics, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, Spanish, and Theater. With these degrees, students can transfer without losing any credits or being required to take extra classes in order to complete a Bachelor's degree. Almost 800 students are now enrolled in the CSCU TAP program.

UConn has a very successful Guaranteed Admissions Program (GAP), which attracts transfer students who are in the Liberal Arts & Sciences program at a community college. The GAP program guarantees their admission to UConn if they earn a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA and an associate degree in an approved academic program. It also guarantees that GAP students can begin UConn studies in their junior year.

To help students maximize the number of transferrable credits, UConn provides very specific and detailed information on its web site to help them pick courses that line up with the content taught at the same courses at UConn.

 They can look up whether specific courses at specific schools will transfer at a searchable site, which is constantly updated: http://admissions.uconn.edu/apply/transfer/transfer-credit/equivalencies

The benefits of GAP include intensive academic advising, priority registration, and guaranteed housing at Storrs. Many GAP students are eligible for a President-to-President scholarship which provides $4000/year for two years.

Data provided to the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee within the last few years found that on average, nearly 79 percent of community colleges’ credits statewide transfer to UConn – sometimes higher, such as the nearly 90 percent rate from Manchester and Gateway Community Colleges.