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Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges

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Transfer


The purpose of transfer is to facilitate the smooth transition of college course work taken at one college institution to another college for the benefit of the individual student. These courses are generally intended to move the student towards a baccalaureate degree.

Washington state’s community and technical college system provides educational course work and degree programs which “transfer” to upper-division institutions, both public and private. The notion of transfer is grounded in the peer-based accreditation status of the participating colleges in supporting student mobility of course work between and among the colleges.

The current community and technical college system grew out of legislation in 1967, later revised in 1991, that fostered educational opportunity for students in their own communities. These opportunities were clearly intended to include course articulation between the community/ technical colleges and the baccalaureate colleges.

These transfer arrangements have evolved over many decades to include a variety of degrees and articulation arrangements. Effective 2009, technical colleges may also offer transfer degrees in selected fields in support of professional baccalaureate work.

TRANSFER WITHIN THE COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

The Washington State Community and Technical Colleges Instruction Commission established policies that govern the acceptance of credits within the CTC system:

COMMON COURSE NUMBERING
TECHNICAL COLLEGE GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE ACCEPTANCE
CTC INTER-COLLEGE RECIPROCITY POLICY TRANSFER DISTRIBUTION COURSES AND AREAS
PRIOR LEARNING ASSESSMENT OF CREDIT

TRANSFER TO BACCALAUREATE INSTITUTIONS POLICY

Historically, transfer policy in Washington consists of several cross-sector agreements, some of which have been adopted by the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB), the agency responsible for state transfer policy. The agreements include:

Direct Transfer Agreement
ASSOCIATE IN SCIENCE-TRANSFER
Associate in Applied Science-T (AAS-T) Degree

MAJOR RELATED PROGRAMS (MRPs)

Major related programs help transfer students better prepare for the junior year upon transfer. Major Related Program (MRP) pathways follow one of the two statewide transfer agreements. "Major Related" includes early selection of academic interests for competitive selection at four-year colleges and universities.

Exit Coding for new and Existing Associate Degrees can be found on our Coding page.
Criteria for Developing MRPs

MRP pathways that follow the statewide Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA) are as follows:

MRP pathways that follow the statewide Associate in Science-Transfer Tracks 1 and 2 are as follows (Revised summer 2008, effective fall 2009):

Several MRP degrees follow the AS-T guidelines and thus share the same benefits as described above, but provide specific preparation for the specific majors identified:


TRANSFER DEGREE POLICIES

Several higher education groups composed of community and technical college and four-year college and university representatives collaborate to form policy for students transferring from a community and technical colleges to four-year colleges.

THE JOINT ACCESS OVERSIGHT GROUP (JAOG)
THE INTERCOLLEGE RELATIONS COMMISSION (ICRC)
STUDENT TRANSFER RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
GENERALLY TRANSFERABLE COURSES
PROPORTIONALITY AGREEMENT OF 1994
1990 COOPERATIVE STUDENT TRANSFER PROCESS
1984-86 UMBRELLA TRANSFER POLICY
TRANSFER DEGREE APPROVAL
COLLEGE IN THE HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMIC/TRANSFER GUIDELINES
TRANSFER DEGREE INVENTORY
UNIVERSITY CENTER PARTNERSHIPS

 

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WA State Board for Community and Technical Colleges  |  Open 8 AM - 5 PM, Mon-Fri  |  Phone: 360-704-4400  |  Fax: 360-704-4415

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