Signing Ceremony Marks National Transfer Student Week

Leaders of higher education institutions from the Tulsa metro area held a signing ceremony to mark National Transfer Student Week and show progress toward increasing the number of bachelor’s degrees in the Tulsa metro area.

Oklahoma has one of the top three highest rates of students who transfer but falls below the national average when it comes to those students completing a bachelor’s degree.

Tulsa Transfer Collaborative, made up of seven higher education institutions, is working to improve the transfer student process.

“The transfer agreements established between Tulsa Community College and these partners spell out a student’s path from an associate degree at TCC to a bachelor’s degree saving the student time and money when transferring,” said Dr. Leigh Goodson, TCC president & CEO.

While there are already many existing transfer agreements on the books, today’s event celebrated new and renewed agreements for this fall including two new bachelor’s degree pathways to OU-Tulsa.

“Our new bachelor’s degree completion programs in computer science and social work will open doors for students who want to stay in the Tulsa area and earn a University of Oklahoma degree. The transfer partnership with TCC creates a more seamless path for Tulsa-based students,” said Dr. John H. Schumann, OU-Tulsa president.

Rogers State University and TCC signed three new transfer agreements in Sports Management and Pre-Physical Therapy.

“RSU is committed to creating a seamless and affordable pathway for TCC students who seek the full college experience at a small university with meaningful opportunities both inside and beyond the classroom. As the Tulsa metro’s four-year regional university, we welcome the opportunity to participate in this historic partnership aimed at improving student success for transfer students,” said Dr. Larry Rice, RSU president.

TCC and NSU will recognize the upcoming renewal of a bachelor’s degree pathway for Social Work at the NSU-Broken Arrow campus. Through the ‘SmartChoice’ program, the two schools now have 53 agreements for degree programs across all colleges and campuses and have six additional agreements in the queue. Of these, 38 are available through face-to-face instruction at the Broken Arrow campus with another nine available online.

“Our relationship with TCC has resulted in over 1,700 TCC students transferring to NSU for degree completion. Our most popular transfer programs include psychology, accounting, cell and molecular biology, business administration, criminal justice, elementary education and nursing,” said Dr. Steve Turner, NSU president.

TCC also signed 10 renewed pathways to the OSU Spears School of Business in disciplines including Accounting, Finance, and Management.

“OSU is committed, through our Linked Degree initiative with TCC, to providing a cohesive four-year public university experience in Tulsa,” said Dr. Pamela Fry, president of OSU-Tulsa. “These transfer agreements help students set their academic goals, make plans to reach those goals, graduate and succeed in career and life.”

These pathways and transfer agreements are just a small representation of the large number of agreements in place between TCC and the Tulsa Transfer Collaborative including Langston University and the University of Tulsa. TCC recently launched TCC2University, which lists all transfer agreements and makes bachelor’s degrees in the Tulsa region more visible.