FULTON– The past year has seen a large number of students flocking to their local community colleges for their associate’s degrees or to work on their general education requirements before transferring to state or private four-year colleges. The answer to the unspoken question of why, is the cost.

According to College Board, the average price of a private four-year college is $27,293 per year, while public two-year institutions charge about $2,713 per year. With incomes stagnant and reductions in federal and private financial aid, many students are saving money where they can.

Tiffany Bounds, a May 2011 William Woods University social work graduate, was one such student. She attended Moberly Area Community College for a year and then transferred to WWU to complete her degree.

“I was able to get my common studies out of the way, so that I could focus on my major when I got to William Woods. Going to MACC first allowed me to graduate without any student loans at all,” she said.

As a result of this move towards transferring, William Woods University has begun a campus-wide initiative to streamline the transfer process.

“There are more students going to community colleges, but many of them still want a four-year degree, so we want to make it as easy for them as possible." Bonnie Carr, WWU academic advising director, explained.

This move towards simplicity includes

• adding more articulation agreements with community colleges,
• adding a page to the university’s new website specifically tailored to the needs of transfer students,
• reaching out to community college students and
• allowing accepted/deposited transfer students to register for classes with their graduating class, instead of separately.

Articulation agreements have always been a feature of the university, but there is now a concentrated effort to sign these agreements with colleges that offer associate’s degrees in WWU’s specialties. The idea of an articulation agreement is that students get their associate’s degree at another college and then transfer to WWU, follow an outlined schedule of courses and receive their bachelor’s degree in two additional years.

WWU currently has eight articulation agreements with community colleges, notably with Scottsdale Community College for equestrian science, Johnson County Community College for ASL interpreting and Linn State Technical College for business and management information systems.

“What is really going to make the difference to transfer students is the webpage that goes up in December, and the way admissions is reaching out to transfer students,” said Tom Frankman, associate dean of academic services.

According to Sarah Munns, dean of admissions at WWU, the new web page will make the transfer process more student-friendly.

“It’s going to include everything from a condensed form of the articulation agreements, information about the enrollment and registration process to housing options,” Munns said.

WWU’s admissions staff is also reaching out i to members of Phi Theta Kappa, an honor society for two-year college students.

The most immediate difference transfer students will see is in the class registration process. Starting with registration for fall 2012, transfer students who have been accepted, completed their paperwork and paid their deposits will be able to register with other students in their graduating class.

Making the transfer process more student-friendly will be an ongoing initiative as the university makes more information available to prospective transfer students and is able to reach more students in community colleges.

“WWU is thinking about the transfer process as a holistic approach and in doing so I am confident the attention to detail within all offices will lessen the stress of students who are transferring,” Munns said.