Spoon River College will celebrate National Transfer Student Week October 16-20. NTSW is recognized every third week in October as a way to highlight the success of transfer students, as well as to continue to improve the transfer process for them.
For bachelor degree seeking students, the required curriculum for the first two years is the same regardless of where they are taken, and students often complete those first two years at a community college before transferring to a four-year university.
“Starting at a community college is a smart move financially for students; tuition is less and the need for student loans is reduced. It can also be less overwhelming than starting at a bigger institution,” said Holly Norton, vice president of educational and student services at Spoon River College.
Spoon River College participates in the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI), a statewide agreement that allows transfer of the completed Illinois General Education Core Curriculum between participating institutions. Completion of that curriculum at any participating college or university in Illinois assures transferring students that lower-division general education requirements for an associate or bachelor’s degree have been satisfied.
Norton said the best options for transfer students are to either earn an associate degree or complete the general education core curriculum. “We also always encourage students to work closely with their SRC advisor to make sure they are selecting those IAI courses. Students who have made the decision about where they are transferring to can also reach out to an advisor at the transfer institution.”
The college recently teamed up with Southern Illinois University Carbondale to offer the Saluki Step Ahead program. It enables SRC students who have earned their associate degree to continue at SIU and earn their bachelor’s degrees online in accounting, business administration, criminology and criminal justice, early childhood, elementary education, health care management, history, industrial management and applied engineering, information technology, nursing (RN to BSN), psychology and radiologic sciences.
Besides being completely online, it offers a cost savings. Students in the Saluki Step Ahead program pay the community college rate for their first two years. In the third and fourth years, they receive an annual $4,000 scholarship.
“It brings an accessible and affordable bachelor’s degree to the SRC students and SRC alumni who are able to keep living and working in this area while achieving their dream,” said Spoon River College President Curt Oldfield.
According to the Illinois Board of Education, Illinois not only leads the nation in bachelor degree completion rates (53.8%) among community college students who transfer to four-year colleges, it has also exceeded the national average of 42.2%.