GVSU Helps Transfer Students Finish Degrees

20 years after Grand Valley State University produced its first online course equivalency guide, Michigan  Lt. Governor John D. Cherry announced a new online program that will help students transfer courses from community colleges to universities more successfully.

Cherry announced last week that the Michigan Transfer Network — created in partnership with the Michigan Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (MACRAO) and Michigan State University — will ensure that classes taken by students at the community college level transfer easily to a university.  The system will make its debut later this month.

Grand Valley State University introduced its own online equivalency guide detailing all of the courses at all Michigan’s two-year institutions in October 1987. It has grown to include the four-year public institutions and most private and two-year schools in the Chicago metro area. 

“We were the first in the state to see the need and provide it for our prospective transfer students. We remain one of the few colleges in the nation that produces an on-line degree analysis as part of the admissions process,” said Grand Valley Vice Provost and Dean of Academic Services and Information Technology Lynn Blue.  “The student is able to see the Grand Valley equivalents of their transfer courses and how those courses will count toward a degree when they are admitted. It is a tremendous tool for us and the students.”

The online equivalency guide is just one way GVSU is helping students finish degrees. The university announced last month that it is partnering with Grand Rapids Community College to expand  academic program offerings at its Meijer Campus in Holland to help non-traditional students earn degrees. The new initiative is aimed primarily at adults who have already earned some college credit.  GRCC will offer general education courses on the Meijer Campus in Holland. The partnership will take advantage of existing consortium arrangements to include financial aid, equivalent courses and concurrent enrollment.

GVSU also announced that it will offer a flexible degree completion program through its Department of Liberal Studies.  The new program allows students to build on what they have already completed, whether at Grand Valley or any other accredited college or university. It will also let students build a unique degree that suits their own interests. The new program will offer convenient, flexible, and alternative formats and scheduling options.  The program will become available beginning with the Fall 2008 semester.