Expert Perspectives
College Transfer Initiative Drives Higher Degree Completion Across Illinois
Higher education
remains crucial for long-term financial gain, job stability, career
satisfaction and success outside of the workplace. With more
occupations requiring advanced skills and critical thinking, a
college degree is largely viewed as a must-have for success in
today's workforce.
However, not
every student has the financial means, career certainty or other
capability to immediately attend a four-year institution. Where
community colleges used to have a reputation for being the only
option for young adults who couldn’t “cut it” at a four-year
school, these valuable institutions are now being seen as a smart and
strategic option for many students at all stages of their
transformational education journey.
Tracking
Transfer Trends
It is not
surprising that students switch between two-year and four-year
schools for a variety of academic and financial reasons. This kind of
academic “swirl” means that students have collected credits from
multiple schools before matriculation to the institution that will
ultimately confer the student’s credential. Degree attainment has
become less linear, and the transfer of credits among institutions
needs to be just as fluid.
Here in
Illinois, we have addressed the issues surrounding collegiate student
transfers with innovative legislation, technology and initiatives
designed to ease the transfer process and ultimately help more
students attain their degrees.
Illinois has a
rich and diverse environment of higher education institutions.
According to the National
Center for Education Statistics,
Illinois’ public institutions include 12 four-year and 48 two-year
schools, and there are more than 80 private non-profit four-year
colleges and universities.
Streamlining
General Education Credit Transfer
Illinois’
driving initiative around student transfer is the Illinois
Articulation Initiative (IAI). IAI was originally launched in the
1990s as a voluntary program among the participating institutions.
In recent years, IAI was protected by enacting legislation to secure
ongoing participation (IL Public Act 099-0636). The IAI was created
as a model state system that includes 110 participating public and
private institutions, and serves 45,000 to 50,000 transfer students
annually. Specifically, it assists students who may not have a major
in mind at the outset of their studies by ensuring that courses
meeting a general education core curriculum (GECC) are fully
transferable — as well as applicable — for full credit across all
state institutions. While it is common for students in other states
across the country to discover that certain courses only apply as
elective credit at their new institution, our streamlined approach to
not just the transferability but applicability of GECC courses has
been pivotal in helping students reliably earn foundational credits
across various institutions statewide, regardless of where they end
up transferring for degree completion.
Illinois has
passed other important legislation in support of transfer students,
including the Student Transfer Achievement Reform (STAR) Act,
effective 2016, which was recently reviewed for progress toward its
goals. The STAR Act ensures that students who transfer with an
associate’s degree from a community college do not have to complete
more than 60 additional hours to complete a related bachelor’s
degree.
The state also
invests in technology to help students determine course articulation,
beyond and including IAI coursework, along with information on
inter-institutional agreements. We designed MyCreditsTransfer
as a statewide initiative to facilitate the use of an online transfer
advising tool, which is free to students. Illinois maintains a
statewide license for use of the software tool, Transferology by
CollegeSource. Students use Transferology to find and confirm the
courses that transfer credit between institutions, degree
requirements their courses satisfy and different majors that
institutions offer. Transferology also helps returning veterans
determine how their military experience translates into course
credit.
As
all parties can now see how credits are weighted and applied,
students and advisors can quickly understand which courses will apply
during transfer and which ones may still be required for degree
attainment. It also gives students choices around obtaining those
credits at the school that makes the most sense – geographically,
financially or otherwise.
Voluntary
Collaboration Statewide Among Institutions
One of the
hallmarks of the IAI is the high degree of participation by its
member institutions. Faculty representatives voluntarily serve on
discipline-specific panels that meet regularly to discuss the courses
that have been submitted for inclusion in the GECC or as recommended
coursework for specific majors. The faculty panels evaluate multiple
criteria for each course, such as learning outcomes, rigor, the
syllabus and educational resources. Courses that meet panel standards
are IAI approved. Students can be assured participating schools will
accept those successfully completed classes to fulfill general
education requirements. The IAI Director and Coordinator work closely
with Illinois’ higher education coordinating bodies — the
Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) and the Illinois Community
College Board (ICCB). This level of predictability around credit
transferability has instilled a strong sense of trust and confidence
in the overall higher education student population across our state.
Additionally,
this voluntary, collaborative approach among Illinois’ institutions
ensures that student transfer needs are being met, even during times
of reduced funding for higher education. The panels have democratized
the articulation process between the two-year and four-year schools.
So, it’s not just “receiving” schools making the decisions; all
the institutions are equal partners.
Illinois
primarily relies on five pillars to support effective transfer. The
first three have already been mentioned: the IAI (GECC and major
course recommendations), MyCreditsTransfer (facilitating the use of
Transferology), and legislative initiatives. The fourth pillar is the
Illinois Transfer Coordinator group. This statewide group was
established in the 1970s and has served as a key resource in
addressing all aspects of transfer.
Ultimately,
course articulation is a relationship among institutions. The fifth
pillar supporting Illinois transfer is the strength of our
institutional partnerships and collaborations. We make it possible
for the institutions to retain their own focus, values and degree
requirements, while still participating in a process that benefits
students across the board. With IAI ensuring a portable package of
general education coursework, our institutions can focus on
programmatic transfer agreements and partnerships that most greatly
benefit students. These institutional agreements can also be
published through Transferology.
Leading
Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates for Community College Transfers
The
efforts in Illinois have paid off. Illinois achieved No. 1 ranking in
the United States for the bachelor degree completion rate of community college
students who transferred to a four-year institution (National Student
Clearinghouse Research Center report - Tracking Transfer, 2017). The
bachelor completion rate among these community college students was
53.8 percent (33,267 students), compared to the national average of 42.2 percent.
Illinois
has taken a proactive approach to increasing its students’ degree
attainment rate — an approach that will surely pay off in a
workforce that is prepared for today’s workplace challenges.
