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Contributing Editors
Transfer articulation: Take the B.A. train and save
money
Friday, June 27, 1997

fl John O. Harney

Transfer articulation agreenEnts have all the sex appeal of life insurance contracts. But they're
hot stuff in New England higher education circles - and for good reason.

The agreements, afned at easing transfer between community colleges and four-year
institu-tions, provide a logical educational continuum in a region whose economy.demands^
ever-increasing levels of educational attainmenL And they help put a big dent in the cost of
earning a bachelor's degree.

In the old days, a two-year college graduate who wanted to pursue a bachelor's degr-ee could
expect to lose as much-as half hia credits and perhaps a year or more of academic effort in the
transfer process. The best transfer articulation agree[rents - and relaled "joint admissions
prograrns - reduce the likelihood of lost time and credit by tnforming community college.
itud'ents up front about the requirements for transfer into a bachelor's degree program and
then helping them stay on course.

By spending their lust two years of study at a low-cost community college, students
silnificantly reduce the overall cost of a four-year college education.

The new Massachusetts Joint Admissions Tuition Advantage progam adds to the savings by
providing a 33 percent tuition discount to eligible corffIunity_college.grarl]iales who transfer
into setdteO prbgrarns at Massachusetts state colleges or the University of Massachusetts.
\
A student at Bristol Community College, for example, can complete a t\f,o-year associate
degrer program in elementary i:ducation for about $2,4ff) a year_in tuition and mandatory fees.
nifong'asihe student maintains a B average, he can transfer to Bridgew-ater State_College's
elerren"tary education program, for example, as a full junior and benefit from an $850 discount
off the state college's $3,4O0 in tuition and fees.

Still, Massachusetts could further serve students and families by adopting a few of the
distinctive features of a two-year-old transfer articulation progarn in Rhode Island, known as
Baccalaureate Bound.

The program enables qualified high school Eladuates t9 study for two ygat at the low-cost
Conynu"nlty College oi Rhode IstanO, NewEngland's largest two-year institution, tien transfer
with mininial Oisruption to one of 50 participating four-year colleges and universities.

Though small in reach - just 15 students were selected to panicipate last fall - the Rhode Island
program stands out for two reasons.

First, Baccalaureate Bound articulation a8teements are in force not only with the state's two
public four-year colleges, but also with prirrate colleges and universities in Rhode Island and
beyond - inititutions iike Bryant Collegi, Providence College, Boston University and
Worcester Polytechnic Institirte. And to absorb junior year sticker-shock, many participating
private colleges earmark special aid funG to Baccalaureate Bound transfers.

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 6127197 10:50 AM
cost of earrung a baahelor's degree - it helps mc)tlvate them

Says Brown Unrrersity professor and lormer Rhode Island Higher Education Commissioner
Eleanor M. McMahon: "Late bloomers receive specia.l help at the community college level
which may enable them to enter a four-year college that would otherwise not be accessible to
them as high school seniors."

Inded, smooth transfer can be the beginning of somethrng big. One in every l0 science and
engineenng doctorates awarded between 1991 and 1995 went to students who began their
undergraduate studies at two-year colleges, according to the Natronal Science Foundation.
Noubly. 16 percent of Native Americans and l4 percent of Hispanics who eamed Ph.D.s in
science and engineering fields started out at community colleges.

Transfer articulation is also good for the bottom line of four-year institutions faced with flat
growth in traditional applicant pools and attrition among juniors and seniors.

To be sure, some wrinkles must be ironed out

. Some UMass trustees had understandable reservations about signing on to the Bay State's
Joint Admissions Tuitron Advantage proganL noting that students who had entered UMass as
freshmen and maintarned B averages would not enjoy the same tuition discount.

Plus, the most prestigious institutions will be characteristically slow to jump on the
bandwagon. (Surely. a lrrcre community college cannot offer the preparation tieir returning
juniors have experienced!) And too many high school students and their families also look
down their noses at community colleges - even as stepping stones to bachelor's degrees.

Effecuve transfer artrculation programs could help change those aftitudes - and that's good
news for New England's knowledge-driven economy.

John O. Hamey
is tie executive editor of Connection: New England's Joumal of Higher Education and
Economic Development. Connection is the quarterly journal of the New England Board of
Higher Educalion. BusinessToday's confibuting editors appear on Tuesdays and Fridays.

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