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Washington State University
Reverse Articulation Pilot: Report to the Joint Transfer Council
April 11, 2016
Summary
• E-mail memo inviting students to “Make It Count” developed per SBCTC
web-site materials
• 934 students identified (no DTA or AST) (25% of transfer students entering
F12 through F15)
• The first e-mail sent second week of January
o a reminder e-mail sent to 914 students in second week in March (just
before WSU spring break)
• Minimal cost to institution to send electronic e-mails ($150 each electronic
mailing)
• 22 students contacted SBCTC as a result of the 1st e-mail--15 contacted WSU
• 15 students contacted WSU as a result of the 2nd e-mail (6-8 drop-in students
and 7 e-mail contacts)
• 2-3 CTC counselors contacted WSU Transfer Clearinghouse for information
Narrative
Washington State University and the State Board for Community and Technical
Colleges (SBCTC) developed a pilot program for transfer students enrolled at WSU
who had not yet completed a transferable degree, to be executed in AY 2015-16.
Using WSU institutional data, 934 transfer students were identified with 60+
transferable quarter credits and who had not completed a degree. They represented
25% of transfer students entering WSU Fall 2012 to Fall 2015. Breakdowns by CTC
and major area are in Appendices A and B.
The WSU Transfer Clearinghouse (TCH), in communication with the SBCTC,
crafted a message to students that offered an opportunity to complete an
Associate’s degree using WSU credits. The first message was sent to 934 students
the third week in January, 2016.
The first contact resulted in approximately 15 student e-mails/contacts to the TCH.
Questions primarily revolved around providing more information on the process
Office of the Provost
Washington State University
(509) 335-5581
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and what steps it involved. TCH replied connecting students directly with SBCTC
contact (Brooke Allinder) and the “Make it Count” website
(http://www.sbctc.edu/colleges-staff/programs-services/transfer/reverse-transferarticulation.aspx ), along with steps and information to prepare for the process
(obtain WSU transcript, send to CTC, have the CTC review for degree
requirements). Brooke would then provide the specific contact at the CTC and
offer additional assistance as needed.
The second reminder e-mail was sent to 914 students the second week in March,
2016, just prior to WSU’s spring break. Approximately 7 students contacted the
TCH. There have been several drop-in visits from students seeking additional
information, and 2-3 CTC counselors have also contacted the TCH for information.
Interestingly, 6-8 students contacted the TCH that were not on the original list
because they were prospective/admitted students who heard about the program.
Although getting a clean mailing list was a little tricky (see Appendix C on data
issues), there was very little cost to institution to send electronic e-mails ($150 each
electronic mailing, or about 30 cents per student).
Followup Steps
Website improvements
•
•
More specific information on the SBCTC website about what students need
to provide to the SBCTC (e.g. CTC attended) would help students be better
prepared for next steps.
More specific information on the WSU website about what to ask the WSU
Transfer Clearinghouse would prevent questions misdirected to the SBCTC
contact. The WSU Transfer Clearinghouse has access to WSU student data
that the SBCTC does not have, so student questions about grades and
courses transferring to the CTC were misdirected to the SBCTC contact when
they should have been addressed to the WSU representatives.
Summer/early fall analysis of degree yield
•
•
WSU will follow up with analysis of the original cohort for new postings of
completed degrees.
SBCTC will conduct a parallel analysis.
WSU would like to run the process again in AY 2016-17, targeting students at
various points in their matriculation and registration processes.
Office of the Provost
Washington State University
(509) 335-5581
3
APPENDIX A
Number of Eligible Students by Community and Technical College, Spring
Semester 2016
Alphabetically
Bates
Bellevue
Bellingham Tech
Big Bend
Cascadia
Centralia
Clark
Columbia Basin
Edmonds
Everett
Grays Harbor
Green River
Highline
Lake WA Tech
Lower Columbia
North Seattle
Olympic
Peninsula
Pierce
Renton Tech
Seattle Central
Shoreline
Skagit Valley
So. Puget Sound
South Seattle
Spokane CC
Spokane Falls CC
Tacoma
WallaWalla CC
Wenatchee Valley
Whatcom
Yakima Valley
3
87
1
8
13
8
220
81
25
40
12
36
33
4
26
18
36
6
28
3
13
21
20
12
12
27
31
36
22
17
9
26
Numerical order
Clark
Bellevue
Columbia Basin
Everett
Green River
Olympic
Tacoma
Highline
Spokane Falls CC
Pierce
Spokane CC
Lower Columbia
Yakima Valley
Edmonds
Walla Walla CC
Shoreline
Skagit Valley
North Seattle
Wenatchee Val.
Cascadia
Seattle Central
Grays Harbor
So. Puget Sound
South Seattle
Whatcom
Big Bend
Centralia
Peninsula
Lake WA Tech
Renton Tech
Bates
Bellingham Tech
Office of the Provost
Washington State University
(509) 335-5581
220
87
81
40
36
36
36
33
31
28
27
26
26
25
22
21
20
18
17
13
13
12
12
12
9
8
8
6
4
3
3
1
4
APPENDIX B
Number of Eligible Students by WSU Intended Major
1. In numerical order
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
92
60
Nursing, Basic BSN
Accounting
Social Sciences (Gen St)
Psychology
Biology
Management Information
Systems
Computer Science BS
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Business Administration
Communication
Human Development
Digital Technology and Culture
Criminal Justice & Criminology
Finance
Marketing
Environmental & Ecosystem Sci
Ag Tech and Prod Management
Education
Exploring
Zoology
Humanities (General Studies)
Nutrition Exercise Physiology
Computer Engineering
English
Viticulture and Enology
Bioengineering
Hospitality Business Mgt
Microbiology
55
47
45
44
42
42
41
30
29
27
20
17
14
12
12
12
11
10
10
9
9
9
9
8
8
8
7
7
7
Sport Management
Wildlife Ecol & Conservation
Fruit and Vegetable
Management
Genetics and Cell Biology
Landscape Architecture
Physics
Political Science
6
6
Animal Sciences
Anthropology
Apparel Merchandising Textiles
Architectural Studies
Chemistry
Interior Design
Neuroscience
Economic Sciences
Materials Science Engineering
Pre-Med/Pre-Dent/Pre-Pharm
Sociology
History
Athletic Training (ATH TR BS)
General Studies Basic Med Sci
Construction Management
Mathematics (General Studies)
Music Performance/Education
Actuarial Science Mathematics
Art
Botany
Speech and Hearing Sciences
Entrepreneurship
Personnel Psych/HR Mgt
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
Office of the Provost
Washington State University
(509) 335-5581
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6
6
6
6
5
2. In alphabetical order by major or academic plan
Accounting
Actuarial Science Mathematics
Ag Tech and Prod Management
Animal Sciences
Anthropology
Apparel Merchandising Textiles
Architectural Studies
Art
Athletic Training (ATH TR BS)
47
1
10
5
5
5
5
1
2
Bioengineering
Biology
Botany
Business Administration
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Civil Engineering
Communication
Computer Engineering
Computer Science BS
Construction Management
Criminal Justice & Criminology
Digital Technology and Culture
Economic Sciences
Education
Electrical Engineering
English
Entrepreneurship
Environmental & Ecosystem Sci
Exploring
Finance
7
42
1
27
30
5
29
20
8
41
2
12
14
4
10
60
8
1
11
9
12
Fruit and Vegetable
Management
General Studies Basic Med Sci
Genetics and Cell Biology
History
Hospitality Business Mgt
Human Development
Humanities (General Studies)
Interior Design
Landscape Architecture
Management Information
Systems
Marketing
Materials Science Engineering
Mathematics (General Studies)
Mechanical Engineering
Microbiology
Music Performance/Education
Neuroscience
Nursing, Basic BSN
Nutrition Exercise Physiology
Personnel Psych/HR Mgt
Physics
Political Science
Pre-Med/Pre-Dent/Pre-Pharm
Psychology
Social Sciences (Gen St)
Sociology
Speech and Hearing Sciences
Sport Management
Viticulture and Enology
Wildlife Ecol & Conservation
Zoology
Office of the Provost
Washington State University
(509) 335-5581
6
2
6
3
7
17
9
5
6
42
12
4
2
92
7
2
5
55
9
1
6
6
4
44
45
3
1
6
8
6
9
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APPENDIX C
Data definitions used to generate list of eligible students
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•
•
•
No data prior to Fall 2012 was available due to system conversion issues.
“Last school attended” was problematic in the case of students who swirl in and out of CTCs
and WSU.
Multiple sources of credit (AP, military, non-CTC, out-of-state) complicate the picture.
Some students with DTAs were caught in the net due to complexities of coding.
The pragmatic definition of the student we were seeking was:
All students admitted to WSU as transfers who have 60 or more transfer credits (total, from all sources
including 2 and 4 yr institutions, test scores, military credit, etc.). Last school attended as recorded on their
application defines the population who last attended a WA CTC but did not graduate. Thus, under this
logic we looked at total transfer credits for students whose last school attended—as recorded in the system—
was a WA CTC.
Particular cases we had to sort through included ones such as this:
For example, we have students who started at one CTC, transferred to WSU prior to Fall 2012,
stopped out, went to another CTC, came back to WSU as a former student returning post Fall
2012. Their last school attended as recorded in the legacy data system was the 1st CC, and their last
school attended in myWSU is WSU because they are a former student returning. I can find the
number of credits attributed to the second CTC (which happens to be the most recent, but there is
no code within the data to indicate that) but I can’t find the number of credits attributed to what
the system calls their last school attended (the first CTC) because in the meantime they’ve also
attended WSU and when the data was migrated to myWSU it was articulated in a way that it’s not
itemized separately.
For those who may wish to know, the credit fields in the query included:
WSU_CH_Attempted: Number of credit hours attempted at WSU
WSU_CH_Earned: Number of credit hours earned at WSU
Tot_CH_Transferrred: Total unadjusted number of transfer credits from all sources that were accepted
(> 100 level, etc.)
Cum_Adj_Trns_hours: Total adjusted number of transfer credits that can be applied to a WSU degree
(takes into caps for total number of lower level and upper level courses that can be transferred)
Last_sch_attended: The school that was on their application as the last school attended prior to WSU
(note: they may have attended another school more recently, if they picked up summer session courses
or stopped out of WSU for a while)
Unts_Trans_byschool: Number of credits transferred from one particular WA CC (usually the last
school attended, see note below)
School_of_tc_byschool: The school associated with the unts_trans_byschool – usually this is the last
school attended
Tc_eq_lst_sch_attend: if the value = 1, then the last school attended matches the school that we have
itemized credits for (in other words, in this case the number of transfer credits that came ONLY from
the last school attended, without other sources of transfer credit). 0 if the school itemized here is
different than last school attended. So in most cases, it is “number of credits transferred in from the
WA CTC” that is the most recent school. In the other cases, it’s the number of credits from some other
institution (usu. WA CTC).
Office of the Provost
Washington State University
(509) 335-5581