SHSU Reverse Transfer Education Emails and Transcripts Available
Fall 2012 – Spring 2013
(Transfer students with known associate degrees not included)
College
Alamo
Alvin
Amarillo
Angelina
Austin
Blinn
Brazosport
Central Texas College
CISCO
Coastal Bend
College of Mainland
Collin County Community Col.
DCCCD
Del Mar
El Paso
Galveston
Grayson
HCCS
Hill
Kilgore
LSC-Orange
LSC-Port Arthur
Lee
LSCS
McLennan
Midland
Navarro
North Central Texas College
Panola
San Jacinto
Southwest Texas Junior College
Tarrant County
Temple
TSTC
Trinity Valley
Tyler Junior College
Victoria
Weatherford
Wharton
Total emails or transcripts
available:
Educational Email
Sent (Fall 2012)
128
109
9
256
249
1377
142
20
70
236
42
7
691
33
64
34
98
3127
100
210
16
355
173
111
82
42
24
270
7,944
Filtered Transcripts
Available (Sp. 2013)
28
42
1
85
70
543
77
18
0
6
28
26
64
16
4
16
2
89
20
32
13
5
35
1392
54
7
92
0
9
178
5
37
47
11
41
49
12
8
99
3,162
Participating at present
expected
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Maybe
yes
yes
expect
Maybe
Yes
Later date.
Doubt
yes
expect
Wants to
yes
yes
yes
yes
Expect
yes
Yes (refused student info)
Yes
probably
Rejected
Trying
Maybe
probably
Yes
Yes
Yes
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Reverse Transfer Educational Emails:
Educational emails are typically sent each fall semester to SHSU transfer students till
they complete the associate degree or graduate from SHSU. A sample email is
attached as Appendix A.
Reverse Transfer:
Reverse transfer transcripts are made available to colleges during the spring semester.
A spread sheet containing information not on the transcript to aid the college registrar
associate SHSU transcripts with college transcripts is available. The spreadsheet also
contains extensive student contact information for use if the student is selected to
receive the associate degree. A college may request transcripts at their convenience by
contacting the SHSU articulation Coordinator.
Transcripts are filtered according to individual college/district specifications.
A typical filter to extract potential associate degree candidates follows:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
No associate degree on file at SHSU.
Currently registered at SHSU.
Minimum of 15 or 18 transfer hours (cannot guarantee they are all
from one institution).
Completed at least 3 hours at SHSU.
Combined transfer + SHSU hours >= 60.
Core complete either institution.
Transcripts are sent via EDI (SPEEDE). Access to the spread sheet is via a secure
server at SHSU and requires an official at the participating college to obtain an account
on the SHSU network by signing SHSU’s privacy/computer usage policy.
Reverse Transfer Success:
Colleges are not obligated to inform SHSU of their success rates but many do. During
the spring of 2012 SHSU provided 3,641 transcripts to colleges for reverse transfer
consideration. A good estimate of associate degrees awarded would be about 3,000.
Many colleges have indicated the information is also used for certificate completions.
We have no feel for the number of certificates awarded.
In previous years the individual college associated degree award rate varied from 0% to
93% of filtered records. Low associate degree award rates occur where colleges have
college specific requirements such as multiple Kinesiology courses, Speech, and/or
Computer Literacy in addition to legal requirements.
Residency Requirements:
Residency requirements for associate degrees have varied from the SACS minimum of
15 to 18 hours (1/4 of degree requirements) to as high as 45 hours. The current trend is
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for colleges to reduce residency requirements to the SACS minimum and eliminate
college specific graduation requirements. For public schools, the maximum residency
requirement of which I am aware is currently 24 hours for state colleges and 45 hours
for some private institutions. The state of Texas specifically allows some for profit
colleges/institutions to participate in transfer programs.
Failure of Texas Common Application with Respect to Reverse Transfer:
Many universities have now adopted policies where they only make reverse transfer
transcripts available to colleges if the transfer student explicitly indicates on the Texas
Common Application they desire this service. Unfortunately the application wording
appears to be viewed in a negative light by college to university applicants. This
student process is sometimes referred to as “opt-in” versus “opt-out.” Currently
available information indicates a large majority of college students elect not to share
information (“opt-out”) without realizing they have eliminated the ability to participate in
desirable programs including reverse transfer degree with many universities and some
college districts. As an example, one very large university with which SHSU
communicates reverse transfer information only offered 13% as many transcripts for
reverse transfer to colleges as they previous year after adopting “opt-in” for their
eligibility selection policy. As another example, one of the largest college districts in the
state will only consider students for reverse transfer specifically selecting “opt-in” on the
universal application.
Transcript selection for reverse transfer is highly dependent on how a system’s legal
staff interpret FERPA regulations. SHSU currently operates under the interpretation
“FERPA was meant to protect students, not prevent them from obtaining desirable
services. Actions taken on behalf of the student are acceptable. Actions primarily for
the advantage of the institution are not acceptable.” While allowing some flexibility to
provide students with desirable services the interpretation does have restrictions. As an
example, if the contact information exchanged between colleges and universities was
used to by either entity to generate a mailing list for recruiting the institution would be in
violation of FERPA. Such a list would be primarily for the advantage of the institution
rather than the student. As another example, colleges may be at risk if they award
associate degrees without asking the student if they desire the degree.
As a final positive example, one college system has found they increased their
associate degree graduation rate by 20% or more via reverse transfer with SHSU for
multiple consecutive years even though only 7% or their students transfer to SHSU.
Experience has shown reverse transfer degree rates between specific colleges and
universities are sustainable.
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Proposed State Wide Program for Seamless Integration of
High Schools, Colleges, and Universities
Based on Existing Sam Houston State University Programs Specifically
Designed For Colleges to Increase Enrollment and Retention!
Time Compressed Degree Plans provide for completing the high school diploma,
associate, and bachelor degree in most fields in 6 years or less at up to 40%
monetary savings while entering the work force 2 years earlier than traditional
educational routes!
The following suite of programs is available to any public school district via
colleges with which their students transfer upon request. Reverse transfer is
only a small portion of this more comprehensive approach to student success. In
essence, this is a comprehensive P16 program designed to meet the needs of
high school students seeking higher education.
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
Any College with Local School District
with
Sam Houston State University
The following agreement between Any College and Sam Houston State University
provides a framework to develop programs designed to enhance the educational
experience of students attending both schools including but not limited to:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Web Based Articulation Agreements
Reverse Transfer
Joint Admission
Cooperative Advising
Time Compressed Degree Plans
This framework will be extended as required to include additional programs benefiting
the students of our respective institutions.
"Online Articulation" is designed to maximize the amount of course work completed
for the associate degree applicable to the baccalaureate degree for over 50
undergraduate majors at Sam Houston State University while transferring up to 66
hours. Articulation information is accessible by students, parents, and counselors from
4
both
institutions
home
pages
via the World Wide Web
http://www.shsu.edu/prospects/transfer/ , select your preferred college).
(currently
at
“Reverse Transfer” allows students to transfer course work from Sam Houston State
University back to Any College to complete requirements for the associate degree. This
program is specifically designed to allow students to receive the advantages pursuant to
completion of the associate degree when they leave the Any College prior to degree
completion. State law currently provides a student core complete at any accredited
public college is core complete at SHSU. Any student core complete at SHSU becomes
core complete at any college. This law has the potential to save students time and
money by allowing students to complete courses at both institutions without taking
courses at either institution which may transfer to the other institution but may not count
towards degree requirements.
“Joint Admission” provides students a mechanism to maximize utilization of facilities
and programs offered jointly by Any College and Sam Houston State University.
Programs in Joint Admission include: 1) The ability to attend both schools
simultaneously or alternately, 2) SHSU ID, 3) SHSU computer/internet account, 4)
Library access, 5) Access to sporting events, 6) Free electronic transfer transcript
evaluation, 7) Student access to their transcript online with degree plan generation
software prior to actually enrolling at Sam Houston State University.
After acceptance under joint admission, the applicants must continually meet all
admission requirements for both institutions to retain their eligibility to participate in the
program. Students accepted under joint admission may simply transfer, alternate
enrollment between institutions, or co-enroll at their discretion.
“Cooperative Advising” allows qualifying college counselors the ability to access
transfer transcripts and degree plan generation software via the web to advise students
in transfer programs. A Traveling Advisor Program is also available where SHSU
advisors visit students at their colleges.
“Time Compressed Degree Programs” provides the potential for students to
simultaneously complete the high school diploma and associate degree in 4 years at
Any College, the baccalaureate degree in 2 additional years at Sam Houston State
University, and master’s degree in 1 additional year (many fields) for a total of 7 years.
High school students (including those enrolled in early college and dual credit
programs) may attain a university transcript via Any College using the Joint Admissions
program. Online Articulation, Reverse Transfer, Joint Admissions, and Cooperative
Advising programs support Time Compressed Degree Plans.
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Cooperative Opportunities:
1) All colleges must be able to send and receive transcripts electronically with other
colleges, universities, and public school systems.
2) At present almost every college and many universities enters electronic
transcripts in their internal transcript system by hand. The process is labor
intensive, error prone, and expensive. Development of a state wide electronic
solution for integrating electronic transcripts directly into major software products
like Banner and PeopleSoft would be helpful.
Colleges may be able to work with a dozen electronic transcripts but a few
hundred or a thousand over whelm their system.
3) “Opt-In” as a policy on the Texas Common Application for reverse transfer is not
currently serving the needs of students or the state.
4) Reverse transfer contact list for all colleges wishing to participate in reverse
transfer would be exceptionally helpful to universities.
5) Provide universities timely and exact feedback on associate degree/certificate
award rate.
6) By nature, college registrars are busy people often wearing more than one hat.
Reverse transfer degrees will not be awarded unless they are made a priority by
a higher office.
Electronic copies of this material may be obtained by contacting:
David Burris, Ph.D., CCP, CSP
SHSU Articulation Coordinator
Office: (936) 294-1568
Fax: (936) 294-4312
david.burris@shsu.edu or csc_dsb@shsu.edu
6
Appendix A: Sample Reverse Transfer Email. SHSU tailors this email to meet the
specifications of each college district.
Hello Bearkat! Our records show you have transferred to SHSU prior to completing the
associate degree. Many SHSU students complete the associate degree while simultaneously
meeting baccalaureate degree requirements. “Reverse transfer” is particularly appropriate when
it is inconvenient or impossible to complete more college courses. In some cases, reverse
transfer may help you complete both the associate and baccalaureate degrees while minimizing
total course work. Reverse Transfer works similar to dual credit when you were in high school.
Essentially academic credits for course work completed at SHSU are transfer back to the
college/college district to satisfy associate degree requirements. Course work you complete at
SHSU is applied to both the associate and baccalaureate degrees. There is no loss of course
credits in reverse transfer. Credits are applied to both degrees. The general requirements to
participate and complete a degree via reverse transfer from colleges in the San Jacinto College
are:
1) Core complete at either Sam Houston State University or San Jacinto College. In Texas,
core complete at any state institution means you are core complete at all state institutions.
2) You must have a minimum of 24 hours of transferable course work from San Jacinto
College meeting their minimum GPA requirements for graduation.
3) The total of your San Jacinto College transfer credits plus credits at Sam Houston State
University must meet or exceed 62 hours.
4) Credits accumulated at Sam Houston State University must meet associate degree
requirements at the college for hours above the college core requirement as determined
by the college.
Sam Houston State University will monitor your academic progress including total transfer hours
and total combined transfer plus Sam Houston State University hours. When we anticipate you
meet the requirements for the associate degree from the transfer institution, you will be contacted
with instructions on how to apply for the associate degree.
You are free to accumulate additional credits towards graduation applicable to your chosen
major at SHSU from the college at any time as long as you do not exceed SHSU limitations for
transfer students. As a Bearkat, we look forward to helping you reach all desired academic
milestones.
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Additional information with respect to “Reverse Transfer Degrees” may be obtained from your
college Registrar’s Office. The college Registrar can also address any special considerations
specific to your situation. A complete list of transfer college articulation pages is located at
http://shsu.edu/prospects/transfer/. The articulation pages show available transfer credit for over
50 majors at SHSU with up to 66 hours of transfer credit. The articulation pages also contain a
link to your transfer college’s home page which includes contact information for the college
Registrar.
Sam Houston State University / A Member of The Texas State University System
File: TCCIAJune2013
8