Transfer students receive new help
Two-thirds of all students who graduate from Utah State University do so with some transfer credit from another university.
Students who transfer from other universities often complain of problems applying the credits they received elsewhere to their major at USU, said Rachel Lewis, transfer adviser and articulation specialist for USU.
“I think the problem here is the difference between accepting the credits and applying those credits towards a degree at USU,” Lewis said. “All course work that is not remedial in which a student has actually received a grade is transferable and accepted within the Utah System of Higher Education institutional agreements. That is law.”
The “gray area” is not the accepting of the credits but the applying of the credits to the student’s major, she said.
“That is where articulation agreements are important,” Lewis said. “The articulation agreements can be found on the State Board of Regents Web site [www.utahsbr.edu], as well as the Web site maintained by our office [www.usu.edu/ats].”
Articulation agreements are arrangements with other universities that specifically define which classes at one university will count at another university in the same area and not just as a general education credit.
In order to better meet student needs when transferring, Lewis is working with the College of Eastern Utah and Snow College to create what may be known as the Intent to Transfer program. This program will specifically show how credits transfer from other universities to USU. Students who intend to transfer to Logan will be assigned an academic adviser from USU to help them take the right paths.
John Mortensen, director of Advising and Transition Services, is responsible for finalizing the articulation agreements. While directing a conference with the National Academic Advisors Association (NACADA) this week in Salt Lake City, Mortensen talked about the creation of the Intent to Transfer program.
“That’s in the hopes that all their credits will go towards the major, as well as [general education],” he said. Lewis said, “Right now, the credits are not applying where students think they should.”
The university will be working to create a part of the USU Web page that allows prospective students to go “major shopping,” she said.
Through this new program, students can take initiative in making a more direct plan for their degrees, Lewis said.
“We want to let them take some self-responsibility but help in giving them some direction,” she said.
Every year, hundreds of students transfer to USU.
Eric Olsen, director of Recruitment/Enrollment Services, said nearly 1,000 students with credits from other universities in the state transferred to USU this semester. That number does not include students who had credits from concurrent enrollment classes with their high schools.
Kathy Bayn, academic adviser for the College of Engineering, said up to 60 percent of any graduating class from her college could be students with transfer credits.
“We like students to start in our programs and go all the way through, but students start at other schools for a variety of reasons, and we work with them just fine,” Bayn said.
Other institutions get together almost annually to evaluate the articulation agreements already in place, she said.
Darcie Peterson, the academic adviser for special education, said it would be best for students to come to USU in the beginning, instead of as transfers.
“Of course, we’d prefer for students to come to our program and stay here, but we understand that it is a student decision,” she said.
-jonryan@cc.usu.edu