When community college students transfer to a four-year school, it’s typically with the intent to earn a bachelor’s. But sometimes, life gets in the way — and students leave school before they finish the credential.
But if students transferred before earning an associate degree, they wind up with nothing to show for their work except student loans, even if they earned the requisite credits.
A reverse transfer, however, seeks to give credit where credit is due.
“Students who transfer to the four-year institution prior to receiving their associate can, through reverse transfer process, get that degree back when their transcript is sent back to the community college,” explains Dendy Moseley, community college relations coordinator at Troy University in Alabama.
That gives students an advantage in the workforce. It also boosts the graduation rate of the community college, an important indicator as more government officials push to tie funding to performance, and it increases the likelihood students will graduate from the four-year institution, says Moseley.
[Get tips on transferring from community college to a four-year school.]
“At Troy, we want the student who is most likely to persist, and that is the one who gets that associate degree,” he says. “So we like to say it’s a win-win-win.”
Reverse transfers don’t just happen, though. Students need to be proactive and put in the legwork. And some states require more legwork than others.
In Colorado, for example, students simply need to give the OK for a college to send their transcripts back to the community college. Thanks to the state’s Degree Within Reach program, participating schools are reaching out to eligible students to help them get credit for the degrees they’ve earned.
The process is more piecemeal in other states, and students need to work with their community college to negotiate credit for courses they took after transferring to a four-year school.
“I have seen colleges refuse [to] transfer freshman English courses, but accept advanced engineering technology courses,” Mark Hughes, an electrical engineer ing technology professor, said via email.
Hughes taught for nearly three decades, most recently at Cleveland Community College in North Carolina. He recommends students talk to the appropriate person at the community college — whether it’s an admissions officer or someone in the registrar’s office — and get everything in writing.
“Just because an advisor, instructor, or even a dean tells you that your courses will transfer make sure they write it down and sign the paper,” he said.
[Read about Obama’s free community college plan.]
Hughes’ advice applies to nontransfer students at four-year colleges who decide, for whatever reason, to move to a community college — another form of reverse transfer, according to some college officials.
At Century College, a community college in Minnesota, the number of students coming in from four-year schools is growing, says Kristin Hageman, the school’s dean of student services.
“I would say maybe about 40 percent of students who go through new student orientation are transfer-in students,” Hageman says. “They were somewhere that wasn’t working out.”
Students who make that move should be prepared for a few unexpected requirements, though.
Most schools require students take a minimum number of credit hours at their institution. That means a student may only be able to transfer 30 credits, despite having 60, says Janice Karlen, a professor of business and technology at CUNY LaGuardia Community College in New York.
Hageman, from Century College, says students may also need to take English or math placement tests, if they didn’t take the right courses at their four-year institution.
These hurdles are worth overcoming if it means getting a degree, though.
An associate degree nets graduates an average of $180,000 more during their lifetime than those with just some college, according to a 2011 report from Georgetown University‘s Center on Education and the Workforce.
[Find out about five costly financial aid mistakes community college students make.]
Employers also look more favorably on candidates who have completed a college degree, says Moseley from Troy University.
“There’s no question that having that associate alone is a strong, strong advantage to that student when they go to get a job,” Moseley says. “It shows them as a completer, as someone who is committed to finishing what they started. For an employer, that’s a real intangible.”
Trying to fund your education? Get tips, news and more in the U.S. News Paying for Community College center.
More from U.S. News
4 Degrees That Are Better to Earn at a Community College
4 Types of People Who Benefit From Community College
Weigh the Pros, Cons of a Community College Bachelor’s Degree
Finish a 2-Year Degree at a 4-Year College With a Reverse Transfer originally appeared on usnews.com
