(ThyBlackMan.com) One of the most effective ways to lower the cost of your college education is to attend a two-year community college. This way, you can satisfy the lower division requirements at a discount, then transfer to a four-year school for the upper division coursework. However, there is an important consideration to make before doing so.
Let’s say you plan to get an online associate degree in business administration from your local community college and go on to a four-year school to get your bachelor’s degree. You’ll need to make sure the university to which you’re planning to transfer will honor the units you earned at the community college. This is why articulation agreements matter for transfer students.
What is an Articulation Agreement?
Simply put, an articulation agreement is an official assurance that a particular four-year institution will accept the credits you earn at a given two-year institution when you transfer. The document outlines the lower division courses the four-year institution will accept toward your degree program. The good news is community colleges and state universities in the same state are pretty much in agreement in that regard. However, going to a private university, or attending an out-of-state university, might introduce some disparities.
This is why it’s important to review the articulation agreement the school to which you’re planning to transfer has in place with the one you’re attending. Sharing your plans with an adviser at your community college can help ensure that your units will transfer smoothly.
Knowing Which Courses to Take is Crucial
It’s useful to think of an articulation agreement as your educational journey’s GPS. Referring to the agreement between your intended university and the community college you’re attending can help plan a strategy that will help you get to your educational goal as efficiently as possible. For example, some schools might look at a class that satisfies a general education requirement in one subject at a community college as ineligible for a degree program at their school.
With this in mind, it’s important to have a solid idea of where you’re trying to go before you transfer. While this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to declare a major, it’s useful to make sure the general education requirements you meet at the two-year school will transfer when you go to the university.
Semesters vs. Quarters and Credit Counts
Another thing to which you’ll want to pay attention is transfers from a semester-based school to a quarterly based—and vice versa. Most educational systems require the accrual of a certain number of hours to meet their degree requirements.
Full-time quarterly students earn more units each year than those who attend semester-based schools. Semesters will usually gain a student 120 hours each term. Meanwhile, quarterly students earn 180 hours each term. Because of this, you could come up short transferring from a semester school to a school with quarterly curricula.
Articulation Agreements vs Partner Programs
In some cases, two-year schools will recommend partnering with four-year schools to which students can transfer to complete their upper division coursework. However, a partnership does not always mean an articulation agreement is in place. As a result, credits sometimes do not transfer between two schools—even though they partner with one another. Always ask if an articulation agreement is in place with your school whenever a partner institution is recommended.
In Summary
Articulation agreements help students make sure the credits they earn at one school will be recognized at another when they transfer. While achieving something like an online associate degree in business administration is doable at a community college, recognition of all of the units earned is only guaranteed at a four-year school when the institutions share an articulation agreement.
Staff Writer; Laura Washington
