In recent years, lots of four-year colleges have created agreements with community colleges to let their students transfer seamlessly. Now, Syracuse University is adding a twist.
The university is rolling out new joint-admission agreements with two community colleges that will include giving students a predictive financial-aid award for when they enroll at Syracuse. Syracuse expected to sign its new agreement with Georgia Perimeter College on Tuesday, and a similar agreement with Onondaga Community College next Wednesday.
Starting in the fall of 2011, students entering or returning to the community colleges will be eligible for the program. They will apply for financial aid at Syracuse just as if they were entering freshmen there. The students will receive financial-aid packages based on their current eligibility and an explanation of how it could change by the time they actually enroll. Tuition will probably go up, and income can fluctuate, but barring a big change in family circumstances, the award letter should come pretty close to what students eventually receive, said Donald A. Saleh, vice president for enrollment management at Syracuse.
Articulation agreements already give students a clear pathway from a two-year college to a four-year one, laying out the classes they must take and the grades they must earn. It made sense to provide a financial pathway, too, Mr. Saleh said, especially because families can be overwhelmed when they see the sticker price of a private university like his.
Syracuse already had a separate pool of financial aid for transfer students, Mr. Saleh said, and unlike some universities, its financial-aid policies do not favor entering freshmen over transfer students.
For the university, the new agreements are part of a larger strategy, Mr. Saleh said. “We have been very active in establishing articulation agreements with community colleges in New York State, and, more recently, across the country as we build our recruitment of transfer students.”
Increasing the transfer-student population has several benefits, Mr. Saleh said. It will allow Syracuse to grow without putting pressure on the entry-level courses freshmen take. It will help fill some of the spaces left by the 40 percent of students who spend a semester abroad. And it will allow the university to bring in a group of students who have had a different education experience and who will likely add to the university’s racial and socioeconomic diversity.
The university brings in about 150 transfer students a year, a figure Mr. Saleh would like to double. Syracuse has articulation agreements with 14 community colleges. If its new arrangements with Georgia Perimeter and Onondaga work well, the university plans to expand that approach to more two-year institutions. And, if the new agreements work, Mr. Saleh expects they will serve as a model for other private colleges.
