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 makes course transfer easy between and among Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges. Common courses are those courses delivered by a number of community and technical colleges that have official college catalog descriptions similar enough to be accepted as equivalent at a receiving college for transfer purposes.
The Instruction Commission and the Washington State Student Services Commission expect that all colleges in the Washington community and technical college system accept transferable technical college general education courses as equivalent to their own similar general education courses in content and purpose, in transcript credit value, and as applied to degree requirements. The Instruction Commission and Washington State Student Services Commission members will communicate this position to those in their colleges responsible for accepting transfer courses, and will send this resolution to the Education Services Committee of WACTC.
The inter-college reciprocity policy ensures that students moving between colleges are not penalized by the healthy differences in the specific general education requirements imposed by individual campuses within the general guidelines of the Transfer degrees (DTA and AS-T).
Prior learning assessment is an opportunity for colleges to award credit for student learning done outside of the academic system that meets NWCCU Accreditation standards. Credit earned through Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) at one college will be accepted toward the appropriate course or program at any other Washington community and technical college (per the guidelines approved by WACTC, January 2000).
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:
The Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA) Associate Degree, sometimes called the Associate in Arts or Associate in Arts and Sciences, is the community college degree designed to transfer to most bachelors of arts degrees at Washington’s four-year institutions.
The Associate in Science-Transfer degree is designed for community and technical college students seeking to major in engineering and science. Degrees structured under the AS-T umbrella provide:
- Priority admissions consideration at public universities for most science and engineering majors ahead of non-degreed transfers.
- Completion of similar lower division general education requirements as first- and second-year university students in engineering or science-based fields.
- Credit for all courses completed within the AS-T up to and in some cases beyond 90 credits.
- Opportunity to complete math and science prerequisites for the chosen major.
- Opportunity to explore other fields within the electives included in the degree.
Associate in Science - Track 1 - This degree is for students interested in chemistry and related fields (Exit Code A).
Associate in Science - Track 2 - This degree is for students interested in engineering and physics and related fields (Exit Code B) . On September 18, 2008, the Higher Education Coordinating Board, based on a recommendation from the higher education community, updated the original 2000 AS-T Track 2 agreement such that it:
- Removes the requirement of a minimum of four credits of computer programming in the Associate of Science Transfer (AS-T) Degree #2 (thus reducing the pre-major program requirements from 29 to 25 and increasing the electives from 31 to 35).
- Removes a clarifying sentence about the need for a “design component” to meet ABET accreditation requirements because the accreditation requirement has changed.
- Includes 2005 agreement language regarding acceptance of social science and humanities credits.
- All changes effective for students accepted in transfer for fall 2009.
The Associate in Applied Science-Transfer degree is built upon the technical courses required for job preparation but also includes a college-level general education component, common in structure for all such degrees.
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
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.
JAOG was formed in 2003 to consider statewide transfer issues and recommend policy strategies. It is a standing committee that meets about six times a year with representatives from the public and independent academic degree-granting institutions and the HECB. Go to JAOG webpage »
In December 2007 the JAOG prepared a report summarizing transfer policies as they currently operate in Washington. JAOG Transfer Policy Report, December 2007
ICRC representatives from community and technical colleges and four-year colleges and universities work collaboratively to enforce transfer policies and make recommendations for policy change. The ICRC Handbook outlines transfer agreements, courses generally accepted for transfer and courses generally NOT accepted for transfer (ICRC Handbook, page 28, Appendix C).
This document outlines student rights and responsibilities as well as the rights and responsibilities of colleges who receive students upon transfer.
Each year the CTC system identifies course areas or specific courses that meet the criteria for generally transferable courses that have not yet been listed as generally transferable. A review process results in annual updates to the list of such courses (ICRC Handbook, page 23, Appendix B).
This agreement was developed by the Transfer Task Force convened by the HECB in fall 1992 in response to an anticipated problem of lack of sufficient space at some public baccalaureate institutions due to the potentially increasing numbers of transfer students at the community colleges. (See letter of transmittal, March 30, 1994.) The proportionality agreement states that each baccalaureate institution will maintain its current (1992) proportion of community college transfer student admissions and within that number grant priority admissions to those with an associate degree or who have otherwise completed lower-division preparation.
This document outlines the joint process used by public four-year institutions of higher education and community colleges to establish a cooperative transfer process, which will ensure that qualified students can progress through their chosen courses of study toward their desired degrees.
This document commits to transfer as a key path to the bachelor's degree and has been adopted by the HECB.
As of summer 2009, all community and technical colleges must seek State Board approval for programs that transfer to four-year colleges and universities within Washington state. All programs that existed prior to summer 2009 are automatically approved by the State Board. Please review the program approval policy prior to completing the program approval request form. Questions about the program approval policy should be directed to Michelle Andreas, 360-704-4338. The completed program approval request form should be emailed to Jackie Eppler-Clark.
These guidelines were approved by the Instruction Commission and public baccalaureate provosts in 2004.
In addition to statewide direct transfer degrees (DTA and AS-T), each community and technical college creates individual program articulation agreements with four-year colleges and universities, inside and outside of Washington State.
Community and technical colleges offer four- year degrees on their campus to increase student access to higher education.
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