Sam Houston State University Blinn College Texas State University System

1. Sam Houston State University Blinn College Texas State University System Online Articulation, Joint Admissions, Reverse Transfer, Direct Student/Advisor Access to Transcripts/Degree Plans: Just for Starters! David Burris, Ron Johnston, Kenneth Craycraft

2. 1) 15,300 students 2) 79 Bachelor programs, 47 Master programs, 4 Doctoral programs. 3) Nationally Ranked Programs: A) Criminal Justice B) Music/Theater C) Dance D) Educational Leadership E) Mathematics 4) About half our graduates are transfer students. Description of Sam Houston State University

3. Students: over 68,000 Employs: 13,125 Budget: $700 Million

4. Description of Blinn College Blinn College is the 10th largest community college in Texas. With an enrollment of 14,000 students on four campuses, Blinn transfers more students to four-year institutions than any community college in our state. Ninety percent of our instructional curriculum is academic transfer. We also have the greatest completion rate for students transferring and earning their undergraduate degree among the two-year institutions in Texas. Brenham Bryan Schulenburg Sealy

5. Online Articulation Joint Admissions Reverse Transfer Cooperative Advising / Financial Aid Online access to transcripts and degree plans via the WWW for Joint Admission Students / Partner Institution Advisor. Transfer Student Performance Analysis Transfer Programs

6. Online Articulation • Available to students, advisors, whole world. • Over 45 undergraduate degree transfer programs on the web. • Tailored to emphasize the ability of the student to complete the associate degree while maximizing the number of transferable hours. • Students, parents, and individuals supplying financial support are assured all course work on the articulation agreements will transfer towards the bachelors degree. • Articulation agreements have been crafted as Community College/Colleges recruiting tool.

7. Web Transfer Page for Articulation Agreements! List of schools having full or partial online articulation agreements. Only Blinn College and NHMCCD have implemented the full range of agreements. Five others colleges/community colleges are in the process of implementing the complete agreements. http://www.shsu.edu/prospects/transfer/

8. Online Articulation Menu (Accessed from previous page.) -- Over 42 detailed Majors https://www.shsu.edu/blinn/

9. Sample articulation agreement. Meant to be used as a recruiting tool by the college.

10. Online Articulation Goal: Maximize the number of courses applying to both the “Associate Degree” and the “Bachelors Degree.” A maximum of 66 academic hours not including Kinesiology may be transferred from Blinn to SHSU. It is not unusual for more than 50 hours to be applicable to both the associate and bachelor degrees.

11. The box “Joint Admissions” on the right is the online application area. • To get started, a student initially only needs knowledge of their social security number and birthday. • Allows: • Enroll either school. • Concurrent Enrollment. • Alternation. https://www.shsu.edu/blinn/

12. Joint Admissions Benefits • SHSU ID. • Library Access, Athletic/Cultural Events, Computer Accounts (email, disk space, student web presence). • Reduced Application Fee, Assurance of Acceptance and Course Transfer. • Online Access to Transcripts/Degree Plans even if the have not yet attended SHSU. • Convenient and Less Threatening – especially for 1st generation and minority students. • Positive self image, students see themselves as university students from the start and are more likely to be successful.

13. Joint Admissions! • Apply Online. • Accepted new and seasoned students online! • Only advertising – word of mouth! • 889 applicants in first 16 months of program from two schools!

14. Partner Advisor Software Options on WWW! • Transcript • Degree Plan • Time Period Specific Transfer Summary Screen on web allowing a student in Joint Admissions or a partner adviser signing a privacy statement to obtain a degree plan. Degree plans may be accessed by name, student ID, or SSAN. All transfer work is reflected in the plan even if the student has never registered for classes at SHSU.

15. Blinn Advisor web access to transcript information! Screen on web allowing a student in Joint Admissions or a Blinn advisor signing a privacy statement to obtain a transcript via the web from SHSU on demand at no cost. All transfer work is reflected in the transcript even if the student has never registered for classes at SHSU.

16. Registrar web menu allowing determination of specific transfer information, SHSU majors, and additional information to be used for planning. This information helps the college to provide students with desired programs. It allows management “What If Questions.” SHSU supplies additional software to help identify students for degree conferral by Reverse Transfer.

17. Transfer Student Performance Analysis • To support reporting requirements for the state, accreditation, and academic support. • GPA of transfer, native, other school • Graduation rate of transfer, native, other schools • Major distributions • Transfer course success in specific majors

18. Student Transfer Performance Analysis As previously stated, Blinn College students transferring to SHSU earn G.P.A. equivalent or slightly greater than those native SHSU students. The table below is representative of student academic achievement:

19. Summary Blinn Benefits Tracking transfer student performance has provided valuable information to the individual instructional units at Blinn. In many cases, it has validated the curriculum and pedagogy used by our faculty. In some cases, we have actually modified our curriculum and course content to improve focus on certain areas that SHSU has indicated are potential areas of need. Both institutions benefit from a more cooperative relationship among faculty.

20. Reverse Transfer A significant benefit to Blinn is the opportunity of receiving from Sam Houston State, electronic transcripts for students who transfer and are current enrolled at the University. Each transcript is analyzed using our electronic degree audit program for degree completion. Students are notified via e-mail of their eligibility for graduation. They may apply for graduation on-line at no cost. Since inception (2 years), we have more than two hundred graduates completing their degrees with us via the reverse transfer component.

21. Description of “Reverse Transfer Process” SHSU tracks incoming Blinn College transfer students and provides electronic transcripts of those students to the Blinn College registrar each semester. Blinn runs an electronic degree audit for each student and identifies which students are eligible for graduation that semester and which students are within 9 hours of completion. The registrar then e-mails the students inviting them to apply for graduation and/orinforming them what they still need to complete graduation requirements for the associate degree.

22. Reverse Transfer Benefits! • Several benefits are derived from this institutional partnership, • First: Blinn College gains additional graduates which improves its performance rate for graduates. • Second: the state receives the benefit of a more educated and prepared workforce. • Third: SHSU benefits from improved retention of students completing the their undergraduate degrees; and the students benefit from having both the two and four year degree on their resume’s.

23. Summary Benefits to Blinn College • 1) Increased number of degree completers. • 2) Less loss of coursework by students transferring to SHSU. • Useful feedback on student academic achievement and preparedness. • Cooperation between partner institutions.

24. Summary Benefits to SHSU and Blinn College • Reduced student complaints (friction) with respect to transfer issues. • Improved public relations with students for both the University and College. • Cost effective students, parents, and state of Texas. • Data for program refinement and improvement.

25. Presentation: “A Model Seamless Transfer System” This PowerPoint presentation is available on line at http://www.shsu.edu/~csc_dsb/P16Apr06B.ppt Contact Information: Kenneth Craycraft Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Texas State University System (Ken.Craycraft@tsus.edu) Ron Johnston Vice President Academic Affairs Blinn College (rjohnston@blinn.edu) 979-830-4130(voice) David Burris SHSU Articulation Coordinator (david.burris@shsu.edu) 936-294-1568 (voice)