State makes transferring easier, The Oregonian, 02.04.05, by Shelby Oppel Wood; Students will be able to use a portable set of basic college courses at public campuses without fear of losing credits

SALEM -- Maybe this happened to a student you know:

She spent a year or two in community college, intent on a degree but unsure of what to study. Eventually, she transferred to a university and chose a major, only to find that she hadn't taken the right community college courses to advance quickly toward the bachelor's degree she wants.

The missteps cost her time and money, making graduation a more distant goal.

On Thursday, the boards that oversee Oregon's 17 community colleges and seven public universities gave students a new tool to help avoid such delays. With lawmakers facing a budget shortfall for state services including education, the tool also is meant to help campuses operate more efficiently with a declining share of tax dollars.

The tool is a portable set of general education courses -- the basic writing, math, arts and letters, and science courses that freshmen and sophomores at most universities must take before they declare a major and move on to a special field of study.

The courses themselves aren't new --what's new is how they will be packaged to help students transfer easier and graduate more quickly.

Starting this fall, a student can pursue the set of courses, called the "Oregon transfer module," which will take three terms, or a full academic year, to complete. Once finished, the student can take that set of courses to any Oregon public campus, confident that all of the credits will count toward a bachelor's degree.

Last year, about 90,000 part-time and full-time students at Oregon community colleges were enrolled in at least one college-transfer course. But only 4,854 Oregon community college students transferred into Oregon public universities last year, a number that has slowly risen since 1999.

The module is important because it establishes "clarity for students about expectations," said Gretchen Schuette, a member of the State Board of Higher Education and president of Chemeketa Community College.

For years, Oregon students have been able to start their bachelor's degrees on community college campuses by first earning an associate's degree, a two-year process. Students typically complete the associate's degree on a single campus before transferring to a university.

Yet most students no longer fit the traditional mold. The new module is designed for the large number of students who leave community college and enter a university in fewer than two years or without first earning an associate's degree.

The module also caters to the increasing number of students who earn credits at multiple institutions on their way to graduation -- and who need to be assured that their work won't get lost in translation.

"It is really more reflective of how students are now piecing together their education," said David McDonald, director of enrollment services for the Oregon university system.

Geared for undecided students Here's how it works: A community college student chooses from a list of approved courses that equate to similar courses at the other schools. If she takes the full 45 credits, at that campus or any other, and earns a C- or higher in each course, the whole lot will transfer with her to any Oregon university.

The idea also works for students transferring between community colleges or between universities.

A student who transfers to a university after completing the module still would need to complete additional requirements set by individual universities.

The module will help the student who wants to progress toward a college degree but doesn't yet know what she wants to study, said Peter Gilkey, a University of Oregon mathematics professor. Gilkey, who was president of the Inter-institutional Faculty Senate last year, led hearings on the plan at every university.

"It's not a panacea, but it's better than taking courses completely at random in your freshman year and satisfying none of your general education requirements," he said.

The module is not, as some states have adopted, a uniform set of courses that would make the first two years identical on every public university campus. That strategy worries faculty and university leaders who have designed degree requirements around specific missions and around different ideas of what a graduate should know. 

Transcript to transfer in a flash, The Statesman Journal, 02.04.05, by Sarah Evans; A new plan will help students avoid lost credits

Oregon's public colleges and universities are implementing a new plan to help students transfer more easily between higher education institutions in the state.

Called the Oregon Transfer Module, the plan is a set of general-education course guidelines that, if completed, could be transferred to any state public community college or university without the student losing credits.

The module was approved Thursday in a joint meeting of the Oregon Board of Higher Education and Board of Education. It will be implemented in the fall.

Advocates say the plan will benefit students who want to take their general courses at an Oregon community college before moving to the Oregon university system to complete their degree.

"The bulk of your general education course work would be completed when you walked in the door of the university," said Dave McDonald, director of enrollment and student services for the Oregon university system.

Officials hope to eliminate many of the frustrations students often face when transferring, such as finding that the courses they have taken are not accepted at their new school, or that they didn't take the right courses and need to enroll in different ones at the new school.

These complications can lead to more time and more money spent pursuing a degree.

"There is so much information about, and stories about, the impact of loss of credits in people having to retake courses or redo their path because of the handoff from community colleges to universities," said Gretchen Schuette, president of Chemeketa Community College.

Coincidentally, Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, introduced a bill in the Senate last week that also is intended to smooth the school-to-school transition.

Senate Bill 369 calls for a common-course numbering system between community colleges and universities, and asks these institutions to accept each other's credits that were earned toward a degree.

Courtney said that he was unaware of the Oregon Transfer Module, and that he would have to see how his proposed legislation might line up with it.

"I don't want to be at odds with them," Courtney said. "I think I'm trying to help all the work that they're doing and to show support for it."

The senator supports the idea of easing the transition from community colleges to universities because he feels the combination can save students money in the long run.

"I think it helps lower costs and improve access, and I think that's a positive," he said.

The module was created by the boards of education and higher education.

Since last spring, the group has been working with community college and university officials to come up with a module that would work for all of the schools. It applies only to public schools, but private colleges and universities could offer their own transfer modules.

The module is 45 credits, and would take about one year to complete. That is much quicker than a current option for transferring students, the Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer degree, or AAOT for short. The AAOT takes two years to complete, longer than many students want to stay at a community college, McDonald said.

The AAOT also has other drawbacks, he said. It works better for some majors than for others, and is not as flexible as the new module.

"There was a need to do something else, and the something else had to be shorter, it had to be more generic so students had the chance to change majors, and it had to help students who weren't sure what they wanted to major in," McDonald said.

Liliana Landa, a recent graduate of Willamette University, earned her AAOT at Chemeketa before transferring. Her transfer experience was easy, she said, because she was diligent about strictly following the AAOT guidelines..

However, she did have to take a few extra courses to earn the AAOT that she didn't need when she went to Willamette. She said that she didn't mind because she enjoyed learning but she could see how it might discourage others.

"I could definitely see how other students would not even want the degree and just want to transfer," she said.

Plus, taking extra classes costs more, another problem officials hope to address with the new transfer module.

"If we can reduce the number of courses that a student has to take ... then we reduce the amount of time a student takes to graduate, and that is a big cost savings," McDonald said. "That is the biggest scholarship we can give a student."

The module is not foolproof, however. Although it covers a large bulk of general education requirements, schools still may ask for other general courses in addition to those in the module.

Officials caution students that they still need to work with a college adviser to make sure they know all the courses needed to complete the module, as well as others they may have to take once they transfer.

"It is going to place a premium on advising," said Bob Turner, president of the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate, which serves as the voice of faculty members in the Oregon University System. "The student needs to understand that simply completing the transfer module does not mean the student is automatically a sophomore. It means they have completed this portion of the general-education requirements."

Turner, also an associate professor of biology at Western Oregon University, said one reason faculty members like the module is because it requires students to earn a minimum of C-minus in their courses, whereas the AAOT requires only a D-minus.

Several of those who worked on the module also felt it had an additional benefit, besides the one to students: it encouraged schools to work together.

"It has pulled faculty into the processes that are going on in the Oregon University System, and it has promoted cooperation between community colleges and the (universities)," said Turner, the WOU professor.

Cheryl Falk, dean of regional education services at Chemeketa, agreed.

"From an educational system standpoint, we have discovered we can work together and improve systems between community colleges and higher education. We have determined that if more change needs to happen, which it does, then we can do it."

The Oregon Transfer Module was developed by the Joint Boards Articulation Commission, which was established by the Oregon Board of Education and Board of Higher Education to encourage cooperation between education systems in the state.

It also was initiated by the Excellence in Delivery and Productivity work group of the Board of Higher Education. Schuette chairs the work group.