Comprehensive Statewide Transfer Agreement

PURPOSE: Seamless transition from public associate to public baccalaureate degree programs and supporting the successful acquisition of baccalaureate degrees by transfer students.

A. Transfer - with an A.A. or A.S. degree

General Principles:

1. An A.A. or A.S. degree from a New Jersey community college will be fully transferable as the first two years of a baccalaureate degree program at New Jersey public four-year institutions.
2. Students transferring with an A.A. degree into a B.A. program or an A.S. degree into a B.S. program will have accepted for transfer exactly half of the credits required for the basic four-year degree and will have exactly half of the-credits to complete at the four-year institution. Such students will have Junior status upon enrollment at the four-year institution. [For example, at William Paterson, where the basic four-year degree is 120 credits, the transfer student's A.A. or A.S. degree will transfer in exactly 60 credits, and the student will have exactly 60 credits remaining to complete at William Paterson for the degree. At Montclair State, where the basic four-year degree is 120 credits, the transfer student's A.A. or A.S. degree will transfer in exactly 60 credits, and the student will have exactly 60 credits remaining to complete at Montclair State for the degree.]
3. Such transfer students will be considered to have completed all lower division General Education requirements.

Corollary Principles:

1. It is up to the four-year institution to identify for the student upon admission any requirements in regard to the remaining half of the credits. [For example, where half of the degree program is equal to 60 credits, the receiving institution might say that the student must complete 36 credits for the major, 6 credits in foreign languages, and 22 elective credits, but the total requirements cannot be more than 60 credits or half of the total degree requirement.]
2. The only reason a student would be required to take more than the standard half of credits for the four-year degree is if entrance into a required course at the four-year institution requires a prerequisite course which the student has not completed at the community college, and the student cannot fit that prerequisite within the remaining credits to be taken at the four-year institution. The four-year institutions will make such prerequisite information clear so that students can take appropriate coursework at the community college.
3. Transfer students must meet the specific graduation requirements of the four-year institution to which they seek to transfer (for example, foreign language proficiency). In most instances, it is expected that, by careful planning, the transfer student will be able to meet these requirements within their two years' of study at the community college or within the remaining two years' of study at the senior institution. It is the responsibility of the senior institutions to make sure that their specific graduation requirements are clearly announced in catalogs and other relevant materials.
4. 100 and 200 level courses at the community college that deal with the same subject matter as 100 and 200 level courses at the four-year institutions will be accepted as equivalent. [For example, if Calculus II (a 200 level course) is a prerequisite for enrollment in Linear Algebra (a 300 level course) at the four-year institution, and if the transfer student has taken Calculus II at the community college, they will be able to enroll in Linear Algebra at the four-year institution, no questions asked.]
5. By definition, 300- and 400-level courses at four-year institutions have no course equivalents at the community colleges. For the purposes of this Agreement, a 300-level course is one that has a prerequisite of 200-level coursework or equivalent prerequisite, such as a placement exam.
6. It is in transfer students' best interests that community college courses be well aligned with the courses offered at the four-year institutions. This alignment is best accomplished by faculty-to-faculty discussions across the institutions in all sectors. To insure that students can prepare themselves well to succeed in baccalaureate coursework, course evaluations that now take place as part of NJTransfer will continue, and the community colleges will advise their students as to which courses will best prepare them for transfer. [For example, Calculus II, whether taught at a four-year institution or a community college, should generally address Riemann integral applications, transcendental functions, techniques of integration, improper integrals, L'Hospital's rule, and infinite series.]
7. For five-year programs or other specialized programs where the degree requires more than the standard four-year credit requirement, the transfer student will be required to complete all credits in excess of the 60 credits transferred to the institution at the four-year institution, in exactly the same manner as native students. [For example, for a student transferring to Montclair State into the B.S. program in Physical Education with dual teacher certification in Physical Education and Health, the credit distribution would be 60 credits at the community college and 84 credits at Montclair State to reach the required program total of 144 credits. For a student transferring to Rowan into a Chemical Engineering program the credit distribution would be 60 credits at the community college and 72 credits at Rowan to reach the required program total of 132 credits. As noted in corollary principle 2. above, students who have not completed required prerequisite courses as part of their community college program might have to take additional credits.]
8. Where program requirements are closely defined by accrediting organizations, regular communication and consultation shall occur between program faculty at the two-year and four-year institutions to facilitate effective and seamless transfer.
9. All decisions made with respect to the transfer process shall be based on the principle of equivalence of expectations and requirements for native and transfer students. [For example, if a 'D' grade earned by a native student in a specific course is accepted for credit in a specific program, then a 'D' grade earned by a transfer student in the same course would also be accepted for credit in that program. If the 'D' grade is not accepted for native students or for transfer students from other four-year institutions, then it will not be accepted for transfer students from community colleges. Similarly, if a "4" is the minimum AP grade accepted for course credit at a senior institution, then a "4"" will be the minimum AP grade accepted by that institution as transfer credit from a community college.]
10. Transfer students and community colleges are responsible for providing with their transfer applications, through NJTransfer or some other mechanism, transcripts that clearly and accurately designate the specific degree earned by the student, the major, and all courses and course levels and grades attained by the student. All institutions participating in this Agreement are expected to keep course descriptions, prerequisites, and course equivalencies current.

B. Transfer - without an A.A. or A.S. degree

General Principle:

Credits taken at a NJ community college that are applicable to an A.A. or A.S. degree program, up to a maximum of 60 credits, shall be transferable to a NJ four-year institution toward a baccalaureate degree program.

Corollary Principles:

1. The admitting senior institution shall designate which of the transfer credits shall be applied to general education requirements, major requirements, graduation requirements, or electives.
2. Once the designation specified in 1. above has occurred, the transfer student will be required to take as many credits as are necessary to complete the general education, major, graduation, and elective requirements remaining and applicable to the particular program of the particular senior institution. The number of remaining credits is, in most instances, likely to exceed 60 credits depending on the number of credits eligible for transfer and the applicability of those credits to the particular program the student seeks to enter.
3. For students who submit fully completed applications and associated fees by the senior institution's established admissions deadline, the senior institution shall notify the student, within thirty days of admission, as to the acceptance and designation of transfer credits and as to the remaining credits required for graduation in a specific baccalaureate degree program.
4. Corollary principles A. 3. through A. 10 above shall apply.

C. Admission

General Principles:

1. Admission to a four-year college or university will depend, as do all admissions, on the four-year institution's assessment of the overall strength of the student's academic record and the availability of places in the receiving institution. Senior institutions are not expected to exceed their enrollment goals to accommodate transfer students. Admissions decisions are not appealable through the Appeal Process set forth in this Agreement.
2. A transfer student's admission into a particular major will be subject to the specific requirements for admission to that major, consistent with such requirements for native students. (See also A. 1. above.)

D. General Education

General Principle:

The community colleges shall require for transfer students a general education program that conforms to parameters that are summarized below:

Special Provisions for Transfer of Mathematics Courses:

For students transferring with an A.A. or an A.S. degree, General Education mathematics courses that have a prerequisite of basic algebra shall be included among the courses for which students pursuing non-mathematics-intensive programs are awarded General Education transfer credit.

In all other circumstances, the policies that apply to native students at the baccalaureate institution shall be applicable to transfer students and shall determine whether a baccalaureate institution does or not accept a specific mathematics course as meeting general education, major, graduation, or elective requirements.

Each participating institution must ensure that its students are fully advised of the impact of their mathematics course selections in their planning for a major and for transferring credits.

E. Assessment

1. The Presidents' Council and the Commission on Higher Education will exercise responsibility for monitoring the effectiveness of the Agreement and its implementation.
2. The Commission on Higher Education shall annually collect such data from all participating institutions of higher education as will enable the Commission and the Presidents' Council to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of this Agreement in fostering a seamless transfer process and the academic success of transfer students at the senior institutions. The Commission shall share the data it collects with the Presidents' Council.
3. The Presidents' Council Transfer Committee will assume expanded responsibilities, as set forth in 4. below, and shall include: 3 representatives from among the state colleges and universities; 1 representative from Rutgers; 1 representative from NJIT; 5 representatives from among the community colleges; 1 representative from the proprietary institutions; and one representative from the Commission on Higher Education. Representatives shall be a president, a chief academic officer or an associate chief academic officer, and must be from institutions that are signatories to this Agreement or a related companion agreement. A majority of the representatives from the four-year and from the two-year sectors shall be presidents.
4. Based on the data provided by the Commission on Higher Education, the Transfer Committee will be responsible for:
   1. In collaboration with the Commission, assessing the effectiveness of the implementation of the Agreement, in particular: (a) the rates of achievement of baccalaureate degrees by transfer students, and (b) the actual implementation of the terms of the Agreement by participating institutions;
   2. In collaboration with the Commission, recommending to the Presidents' Council any modifications to the Agreement or related procedures;
   3. Hearing appeals from institutions on behalf of students, as described in the Appeals procedure set forth in Section F below.
   4. Impaneling ad hoc sub-committees, if and when necessary, to research and make recommendations in regard to specific issues related to transfer.
5. Each institution participating in the Agreement shall appoint and identify a specific individual responsible for overseeing that institution's implementation of the Agreement.

F. Student Appeal Process

Each baccalaureate institution shall have a procedure through which a transfer student can appeal a decision that he/she believes is not consistent with this Agreement. The procedure shall be published in the institution's catalog, student handbook, and website. A student who wishes to appeal a decision must file that appeal with the baccalaureate institution through that procedure. Such appeal must be submitted by the student within 30 days of receiving the decision in question. The baccalaureate institution will provide a decision to the student within 60 days of receipt of the appeal. The decision of the baccalaureate institution is final. The relevant community college will be informed of the nature of the appeal and the decision by the baccalaureate institution.

G. Institutional Resolution of Disputes Regarding the Agreement

1. If the community college believes the decision of the baccalaureate institution was not consistent with this Agreement, the community college shall consult with the baccalaureate institution and seek to achieve resolution of the matter. If the community college cannot achieve resolution of the matter with the baccalaureate institution, the community college may submit the matter for consideration and recommendation to the Special Transfer Agreement Panel established by the Presidents' Council, as set forth in Section G.2. below. The Panel shall receive relevant documentation and opinions from the baccalaureate institution and the community college, and, if so requested, they shall provide timely response to any additional requests for information from the Panel. The Panel shall make any recommendations in the matter which it deems advisable. Those recommendations shall be forwarded to the institutions concerned and to the Transfer Committee. The Transfer Committee shall report on any Panel recommendations to the Presidents' Council.
2. A Special Transfer Agreement Panel comprised of three persons and three alternates shall be appointed to serve each year by the Presidents' Council. One member and alternate of the Panel shall be former academic officers nominated by the baccalaureate institutions; one member and alternate of the Panel shall be former academic officers nominated by the community colleges; and one member and alternate of the Panel shall be nominated by the Commission on Higher Education. The alternate member shall serve whenever the regular member is unavailable or has a current or prior affiliation with one of the institutions involved in the dispute. The costs of the dispute resolution process shall be borne equally by the institutions involved in the appeal.

H. Implementation Date and Applicability

This Agreement will take effect for fall term 2008 and will be applicable only to all transfer students entering the senior institution for the first time in Fall 2008 or thereafter and who have earned an A.A. or an A.S. degree from a New Jersey community college in January 2005 or thereafter or who have not earned a degree but seek to transfer credits earned at a New Jersey community college in 2003 or thereafter. Further, the Agreement applies only to students from institutions that conform to the provisions of this Agreement.