̽��¥

by Lee Furbeck, Director, Undergraduate Admissions and Student Transition at Cleveland State University

“What Would Free Community College Mean for your Transfer Policies?”-- Tom Green and Michele Sandlin from discussed this question with attendees from both 2- and 4-year institutions during their Sunday afternoon session.

While it has been relatively recent national news, a number of states and systems have a longer history with the model in various forms – some of which failed and some of which are still going strong.  Examples are “Tulsa Achieves,” which dates back to 2007, and “Tennessee Promise,” which is the model being proposed nationally.  “America’s College Promise” (promise is a popular element of many of these programs) emphasizes the creation of a skilled workforce.  “By 2020, two-thirds of all jobs will require some postsecondary training,” said Green.

At the core, however, free community college can bring more freshmen to the community college, more transfers to both 2- and 4-year schools, and more transfer credit to all.  Increased mobility means that “pathways” focusing on students will become increasingly important.  As Sandlin stated, “If this goes through, get ready because you are going to have to get your articulation agreements in line.”  Schools with transfer information that is student-friendly, available 24-7, and up-to-date will be in the best position to attract this new crop of transfer students who make decisions based on cost, convenience, and transfer credit (which functions like currency as more credit accepted leads to lower costs).

Sandlin and Green also stressed taking full advantage of technology to handle increased transfer credit volume.  Many institutions are accepting electronic documents, but far fewer are feeding them directly into their database and truly automating transfer credit evaluation. 

Overall, most of the attendees had considered that “America’s College Promise” would bring more transfers and more transfer credit, but this presentation went a step further in answering the question of how to deal with it by outlining what we all should be doing now but will have to do if free community college comes to pass.