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This isn't restricted to untraditional schools. At least one of our local state universities have stopped accepting credits from the community colleges due to t

This isn't restricted to untraditional schools. At least one of our local state universities have stopped accepting credits from the community colleges due to the practice of transferring for the final couple years. Might be something similar going on here. It might be that they want the degree to represent the full 4 year experience at the school or it might just be the money. The cynic in me prefers the latter.

topkai22 6y ago
If that was happening in my state I’d definitely be writing my representatives to take action and change that- transferability to a university while being able to live at home and pay less was quite explicitly one of the points of having a community college system when I was growing up.
- throwawaygh 6y ago
  Many state universities changed those transfer policies when states made deep higher ed budget cuts during the great recession. The alternative in our state was closing branch campuses (thereby making college even less accessible for most of the state). Lots of universities in the US are lavish and expensive. Our state's branch campuses are the definition of utilitarian. Tuition is some of the lowest in the country. Salaries for professors at the branch campuses are lower than what we pay our high school teachers. Very little admin overhead. There's simply not much to cut. Anyways, not saying it's right. But if you cut higher ed budgets, higher ed will get more expensive to the end user. Especially if the system was already hyper-efficient. Limiting transfer credits is pretty much the only way to make things more expensive to the end user without increasing tuition.
  - topkai22 6y ago
    Sounds like the set up in your state is to have branch campuses try to serve many of the needs that community colleges serve (or used to serve) in my state. Whatever the setup, I think it is access to higher education at as local level is important.
- xythian 6y ago
  A number of states ended up enacting laws to solve this exact problem. Lawmakers had to force the big state universities to accept transfer credits from community and regional colleges.
uopeoplestudent 6y ago
That's surprising. Around me it's mostly been the opposite with schools signing transfer agreements and the community colleges developing programs specifically for students who plan to transfer. Though, in the case of UoPeople, it's purely about nationally accreditation lacking the prestige (and sometimes rigor) of regional accreditation. It's been that way for at least a couple of decades since I started reading up on higher ed.
cguess 6y ago
A degree says something about the student. I completely understand why universities would not want to accept credits from school below their own qualification level. If they confer a degree to a student that student is representing the university's education quality to everyone that hires them or works with them. Spending three years at a community college and expecting the credits to transfer to a major university makes no sense for the institution. At that point they did a minority of your training, why would they recommend you?
- pfranz 6y ago
  I follow your logic, but I really think it's about money since they also put up barriers for testing out of classes. Usually, a strong state-run community college program lets an Associates degree earned at a community college transfer into any public state university as a Junior. Most non-degree focused classes directly transfer. Going between states (staying in the same regional accreditation) seems to be difficult and not all states are set up like I had described. The theory being that someone who isn't quite ready for university has an opportunity to catch up and in my experience it gives more options when popular prerequisites are full. So the state has a reason to push for this. I'm also skeptical about universities pointing to their qualification level because I've interviewed graduates from many well known universities and was kind of floored at the basic things many candidates seemed completely unfamiliar with. Nationally accredited organizations don't have anyone pushing for this relationship. This seems to generally work for those schools because they can advertise as accredited, get a fig leaf of transferring credits, but usually want you to stay and complete tranning there. Most tend to be vocational which makes a lot of that moot.
- TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
  Your example (3 years) is extreme. I could not get 15 CS credits to transfer from one private, 2nd tier US college to another (Boston university). BU refused and i took the classes again and paid for them twice. It put me in the rare position of being able to compare the quality of education at the two institutions side by side.
  - awirth 6y ago
non-entity 6y ago
> Might be something similar going on here. It might be that they want the degree to represent the full 4 year experience at the school or it might just be the money. The cynic in me prefers the latter. Everything I've ever heard about and learned of the college admissions and pricing situation makes me prefer that latter.
pvg 6y ago
one of our local state universities have stopped accepting credits from the community colleges Do you remember which state and university?

topkai22 6y ago

If that was happening in my state I’d definitely be writing my representatives to take action and change that- transferability to a university while being able to live at home and pay less was quite explicitly one of the points of having a community college system when I was growing up.

throwawaygh 6y ago
Many state universities changed those transfer policies when states made deep higher ed budget cuts during the great recession. The alternative in our state was closing branch campuses (thereby making college even less accessible for most of the state). Lots of universities in the US are lavish and expensive. Our state's branch campuses are the definition of utilitarian. Tuition is some of the lowest in the country. Salaries for professors at the branch campuses are lower than what we pay our high school teachers. Very little admin overhead. There's simply not much to cut. Anyways, not saying it's right. But if you cut higher ed budgets, higher ed will get more expensive to the end user. Especially if the system was already hyper-efficient. Limiting transfer credits is pretty much the only way to make things more expensive to the end user without increasing tuition.
- topkai22 6y ago
  Sounds like the set up in your state is to have branch campuses try to serve many of the needs that community colleges serve (or used to serve) in my state. Whatever the setup, I think it is access to higher education at as local level is important.
xythian 6y ago
A number of states ended up enacting laws to solve this exact problem. Lawmakers had to force the big state universities to accept transfer credits from community and regional colleges.

uopeoplestudent 6y ago

That's surprising. Around me it's mostly been the opposite with schools signing transfer agreements and the community colleges developing programs specifically for students who plan to transfer. Though, in the case of UoPeople, it's purely about nationally accreditation lacking the prestige (and sometimes rigor) of regional accreditation. It's been that way for at least a couple of decades since I started reading up on higher ed.

cguess 6y ago

A degree says something about the student. I completely understand why universities would not want to accept credits from school below their own qualification level. If they confer a degree to a student that student is representing the university's education quality to everyone that hires them or works with them. Spending three years at a community college and expecting the credits to transfer to a major university makes no sense for the institution. At that point they did a minority of your training, why would they recommend you?

pfranz 6y ago
I follow your logic, but I really think it's about money since they also put up barriers for testing out of classes. Usually, a strong state-run community college program lets an Associates degree earned at a community college transfer into any public state university as a Junior. Most non-degree focused classes directly transfer. Going between states (staying in the same regional accreditation) seems to be difficult and not all states are set up like I had described. The theory being that someone who isn't quite ready for university has an opportunity to catch up and in my experience it gives more options when popular prerequisites are full. So the state has a reason to push for this. I'm also skeptical about universities pointing to their qualification level because I've interviewed graduates from many well known universities and was kind of floored at the basic things many candidates seemed completely unfamiliar with. Nationally accredited organizations don't have anyone pushing for this relationship. This seems to generally work for those schools because they can advertise as accredited, get a fig leaf of transferring credits, but usually want you to stay and complete tranning there. Most tend to be vocational which makes a lot of that moot.
TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
Your example (3 years) is extreme. I could not get 15 CS credits to transfer from one private, 2nd tier US college to another (Boston university). BU refused and i took the classes again and paid for them twice. It put me in the rare position of being able to compare the quality of education at the two institutions side by side.
- awirth 6y ago

non-entity 6y ago

> Might be something similar going on here. It might be that they want the degree to represent the full 4 year experience at the school or it might just be the money. The cynic in me prefers the latter. Everything I've ever heard about and learned of the college admissions and pricing situation makes me prefer that latter.

pvg 6y ago

one of our local state universities have stopped accepting credits from the community colleges Do you remember which state and university?