St. Mary-of-the-Woods initiatives aim to make the transfer process seamless

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September 25, 2009

By Lynn Hughes The Tribune Star Fri Sep 25, 2009, 07:22 PM EDT

Two-year colleges across the country are seeing their enrollments rise rapidly each semester, and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College is working on several initiatives to make the transfer process as seamless as possible for local students who wish to continue on the path to a bachelor’s degree.

“As the government encourages more students to attain some post-secondary education, the need for more remediation to prepare students for higher education, along with economic concerns about paying for college, is causing increased enrollments at community colleges,” said Dottie King, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs at SMWC. “This shift in the way that students think about and plan for higher education makes it imperative for four-year institutions to adapt. By making the transition from the community college to SMWC an easy one for students, we are fulfilling the historic mission of providing higher education to students, and we are ensuring that St. Mary-of-the-Woods is a viable college of choice for the new generation of students.”

To make transferring as easy as possible, SMWC has signed several articulation agreements with local two-year colleges. An articulation agreement is an officially approved agreement that matches coursework between schools. These are designed to help students make a smooth transition when transferring from a two-year college to a four-year institution. These agreements outline specific courses that students should take at the two-year colleges so they can transfer all their credits into the bachelor’s degree program at The Woods.

SMWC currently has articulation agreements with Ivy Tech Community College, Danville Area Community College, Lake Land College, Ancilla College, Vincennes University and Cottey College. The College also has a general agreement with the Illinois Eastern Community Colleges. King says SMWC is a good option for students coming from these schools and other community colleges.

“Community colleges are typically smaller than university campuses,” King said. “The students there are accustomed to low class sizes and meaningful relationships with faculty and staff. St. Mary-of-the-Woods is a good fit for these students.”

The college also wants to ensure that SMWC is a good fit financially for transfer students, so it has created special scholarship opportunities for these students.

Female transfer students who enroll in the campus-based program at SMWC may be eligible for the college’s merit-based transfer scholarships. The scholarships are available to female students who apply to be full-time, degree-seeking students in the campus-based program at SMWC, and dollar amounts range from $2,000 to $10,000 per year. If a female transfer student is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, a national honor society that recognizes and encourages the academic achievements of two-year college students, and if she enrolls for full-time study in a degree-seeking SMWC campus-based program, she will automatically receive a $10,000 Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship. The Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship takes the place of any SMWC merit scholarship for which the student may have qualified.

SMWC has formed a special relationship with Ivy Tech Community College. SMWC will award a $2,500 grant to any female Ivy Tech graduate who is accepted as a full-time student in the campus-based program or a $2,000 grant to any female or male Ivy Tech graduate who is accepted as at least a half-time student in the Woods External Degree (WED) or accelerated Woods Online programs. The grants are available to students who graduated from Ivy Tech in 2006 or after. The SMWC Promise Grant is a $3,000 need-based grant that will be awarded to female Ivy Tech graduates from families who earn $60,000 or less annually. The grant will be applied toward the cost of tuition for SMWC's undergraduate campus-based program and replaces the Ivy Tech Grant.

“Community colleges across the nation are being shocked by a surge in enrollment, mostly due to the troubled economy and a lack of jobs,” said David G. Behrs, Ph.D., president of SMWC. “There is a significant need for people to obtain a college education, and for many Indiana residents, Ivy Tech Community College is their first step. Ivy Tech is a high-quality choice for students who want to obtain an associate’s degree, and we want to do all we can to help these students continue on the path to a bachelor’s degree through our campus-based and distance education programs. Together, Ivy Tech and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College can make a bachelor’s degree an affordable and attainable goal for all Indiana residents.”

King said the college will continue to work to expand its list of two-year college partners so that more students will be able to have a seamless transfer to SMWC. She said the college also hopes to explore mutually beneficial areas of opportunity with these institutions.

“We plan to continue to form relationships with community colleges that are mutually beneficial,” King said. “I would also like to see us investigate ways that we can partner with the faculty of some of the community colleges and find new ways to collaborate on topics such as curriculum and student development.

“We recognize the value that two-year colleges have for helping students to transition from high school to college-level learning, for making education affordable, and for being very customer-oriented,” King said. “We believe that we are a perfect ‘next step’ for these students.”

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