New Agreement Improves Transfer Process between VGCC and State Universities
Vance-Granville Community College students will enjoy a smoother pathway to completing a four-year degree starting this fall, thanks to a new Comprehensive Articulation Agreement (CAA) between the N.C. Community College System and the University of North Carolina System . On Feb. 21, members of the State Board of Community Colleges and the UNC Board of Governors signed the revised CAA, replacing an agreement that had been in place since 1997.
The CAA outlines how course credits transfer from VGCC, or any other state community college, to all 16 campuses of the University of North Carolina. The updated agreement, driven by an increased focus on student success and the growing number of community college students transferring to the state’s public universities, will save students and their families both time and money by making college transfer options more defined and easier to follow.
Under the new joint agreement, community college students will enter transfer pathways with clearly defined goals and an understanding of how earned transfer hours fit into university requirements. Additionally, the revised agreement identifies foundational courses that will transfer to all UNC campuses to meet general education requirements; improves transfer student success by requiring coursework that helps students map their academic pathway from community colleges to universities; and encourages community college students to complete an Associate in Arts (AA) or Associate in Science (AS) degree before transferring to a UNC campus by guaranteeing entry as juniors with full transfer credit.
Hundreds of faculty and administrators from North Carolina’s community colleges and UNC campuses weighed in on the design and development of this revised transfer agreement.
The revised CAA will go into effect for new college transfer students in the fall of 2014. Students currently enrolled in an AA or AS program will continue under the existing agreement as long as they remain continuously enrolled.
UNC schools today enroll nearly 24,000 students who began their studies at a North Carolina community college, and those numbers are expected to grow in the years ahead. Each year, large numbers of students start their higher education at VGCC before transferring to four-year institutions. VGCC’s highly-regarded College Transfer program provides students with the first two years of a B.A. or B.S. degree. College Transfer courses are offered at all four VGCC campuses and online. A 2013 report from the N.C. Community College System found that 90.1% of former VGCC students who transferred to a four?year university had a grade-point average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher after two semesters at the transfer institution. That percentage was higher than the average for the state’s 58 community colleges (87.6%).
“The strengthened partnership between North Carolina’s public institutions of higher learning is a positive development for students, who will be able to transfer from Vance-Granville to one of our state universities and achieve their dream of a bachelor’s degree, in less time and at a lower cost,” said Dr. Angela Ballentine, VGCC Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs.
In addition to the CAA, VGCC also has several bilateral articulation agreements with four-year schools (both public and private) that allow students to transfer credits in specific programs. The N.C. Community College System also maintains an “ Independent Comprehensive Articulation Agreement ” with a group of private colleges and universities in North Carolina.
