Office of Institutional Assessment and Compliance
Act 629 - Summary Reports on Institutional Effectiveness
Fiscal Year 2007 - 2008
Student Transfer and Performance Report - Fall 2007
Assessment information can strengthen the quality of college transfer courses and better prepare
students for the demands of upper division undergraduate studies. University of South Carolina
Regional Campuses participate in a cooperative effort to support the evaluation of student
transfers between the regional campuses and public senior institutions in South Carolina. The
public senior institutions provide data every other year on acceptance rates and academic
performance for first-time regional campus transfer students. The data are "snapshots" of student
academic performance in the fall of the academic year. Each senior institution completes one copy
of a form designed by the Commission on Higher Education staff in consultation with
representatives from the S.C. State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education and USC
Regional Campuses for each two-year campus from which students transferred.
For the Fall 2007 term, 45 regional campus student transfers were identified by the senior
institutions as being enrolled in baccalaureate programs. Table 1 shows the weighted average
GPAs of all students who transferred from two-year institutions compared with the weighted
average GPAs of students who began their academic careers at any public senior institution in
South Carolina. Transfer students from USC Regional Campuses have an average that is .12
lower than the weighted average of all native students in South Carolina senior institutions during
Fall 2007. Therefore, when compared with native students, USC regional campus transfers
earned, as a whole, slightly lower GPAs in Fall 2007.
On the detailed charts for each regional campus, a positive number in "Difference in GPA" means
that students who started college at the senior institution had a higher average weighted GPA in
Fall 2007 than students who transferred from USC regional campuses to that institution. A negative
number in "Difference in GPA" means that students who transferred from a regional campus had a
higher weighted average GPA in Fall 2007 than students who began their careers at the senior
institution.
The weighted average GPA of transfer students from USC Sumter were higher than the weighted
average of all native students in South Carolina senior institutions during Fall 2007.
Table 1: Two-Year Transfers to All Public Senior Institutions Fall 2007
Two-Year
Two-Year College
All Public Senior Institutions FirstInstitution
Transfer Students Fall
time Native Students Fall Term 2007
Transferred From: Term 2007
(excluding MUSC)
Number
G.P.A.
Number
G.P.A.
USC Lancaster
USC Salkehatchie
USC Sumter
USC Union
18
11
13
3
2.51
2.77
3.03
2.78
TOTAL
45
2.74
41,863
2.86
Students who transferred from the regional campuses and attended a South Carolina senior
institution in Fall 2007 were predominately white (77.8% white, 15.6% non-white) and just as likely
to be male as female (46.7% female, 46.7% male).
Table 2 shows a breakdown of student transfers by race, sex, and the institution from which the
student transferred.
For the Fall 2007 first-time transfer population, 70.6% of students from USC two-year institutions
who applied to South Carolina senior institutions were accepted. Seventy-five percent of those
accepted were enrolled at the senior institution in Fall 2007. Table 3 lists the total number of
applications, acceptances, and enrollments for each USC two-year institution. Individual details by
senior institution transferred to can be viewed in the Summary Report links. It should be noted that
the data collected on applications and acceptances do not exclude students being counted multiple
times who made application or were accepted to more than one senior institution. The
implementation of the regulations and procedures for transfer in public two-year and public fouryear institutions in South Carolina, as mandated by Act 137 of 1995 which established the
statewide articulation of seventy-two courses, may influence the utility of this data.
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Table 3: Applications, Acceptances and Enrollments From USC Two-Year Campuses to
South Carolina Non-USC System Senior Institutions
Fall 2007
Total # of
%
Total
#
% Applied
Total #
Total #
Transfer
Accepted
Transfer
Applications
who
Transferring
Accepted Rejected at
Students
who
Applications
Incomplete
Enrolled at
From:
at Senior
Senior
Enrolled at
Enrolled at
to Senior
at Senior
Senior
Institutions Institutions
Senior
Senior
Institutions
Institutions
Institutions
Institutions
Institutions
USC
Lancaster
36
26
1
9
18
50.0
69.2
USC
Salkehatchie
18
12
1
5
11
61.1
91.7
USC Sumter
USC Union
28
3
19
3
3
0
6
0
13
3
46.4
100.0
68.4
100.0
Total
85
60
5
20
45
52.9
75.0
Students who move from one USC campus to another are not considered to be transfer students.
Therefore, no transfer application information is available for students moving within the USC
system.
Students who wish to change from one of the Regional Campuses to USC Columbia initiate
movement efforts by going to their (regional) campus' records office and completing a change-ofschool/campus/major form. It is at this time that eligibility to change campuses is determined. At
least two important factors influence the determination of eligibility:
1. Students who were originally admitted in a pre-baccalaureate (baccalaureate intended)
status, and who were eligible to enroll at Columbia but chose to enroll at a Regional
Campus, may change campuses upon meeting the requirements of the college or school at
Columbia from which a four-year degree is sought. There are currently ten colleges and two
schools at Columbia offering baccalaureate degrees.
2. Students who were admitted in other degree-seeking categories besides pre-baccalaureate
at a Regional Campus, must earn a GPA of 2.0 on a minimum of 30 semester hours at that
campus in order to move to Columbia.
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