To: Transfer Office of Weber State University From: Amanda Lowder, Jennifer Perry and Tyler Smith Date: April 21, 2014 Subject: Recommendation Report for credit transfers at Weber State University Attached is a report of our study of the credit transfer process here at Weber State. As students here at Weber State, we have become aware that potential students do not have the knowledge of how the credit transfer process works.

As a group, we have either heard stories or personally experienced problems with transferring credits from another school. We decided to investigate to find out why these problems were happening. We learned that over half of college students transfer to another university during their college career. But most students had problems getting some of their credits to transfer at all, let alone classes that were only counted as electives.

While colleges do have online transfer guides to help students get an idea of what classes on their transcript could transfer, that is not enough. There are no handouts that the transfer office can give potential students, such as a pamphlet or a brochure that would not only help to remind students of the process, but also to give a physical resource they can look to. This document can also tell students about the process of transferring credits, especially when they take classes when they go back home over summer.

We as a group believe that every potential student for Weber State deserves the proper knowledge and education to ensure their experience here. When there is knowledge of a process and plenty of resources to help students along the way, future students will be able to figure out for themselves what credits will transfer. We believe that extra resources will reduce the number of negative experiences and stories of credits not transferring to another school.

Solutions to Credit Transfer Problems at Weber State University Prepared for: The Weber State Transfer Office Prepared by: Jennifer Perry, Amanda Lowder and Tyler Smith April 21, 2014

Abstract “Solutions to Credit Transfer Problems at Weber State University” Prepared by: Jennifer Perry, Amanda Lowder, and Tyler Smith Our team chose to research how credit transfer problems at Weber State University might be solved, because some of us have experienced problems firsthand. Issues with credit transfers can cause setbacks to a student’s education and waste money, time, and energy.

Research began by researching secondary sources about nationwide credit transfer problems. Since the United States struggles with these issues and WSU is an American university, the information was important and relevant for our project. We then looked at Weber State’s online transfer guide, which is a reference for transfer students. Following that, we contacted those with primary information, first being the Admissions Department. They informed us that each individual department is in charge of how specific credits transfer. This lead corresponding and communicating with different department heads. Through doing this, we learned that the reason so many problems arise when transferring credits, is mainly because the students are uninformed about how to properly transfer classes to Weber State University. While the online transfer guide is a reference, it is complicated and not entirely user-friendly.

Our recommendation for the Weber State University Transfer Department is to create some kind of document, whether it be a brochure, pamphlet, or a simpler, accessible online guide, which gives students all the information they need to know to successfully transfer all the work they’ve completed to Weber State University. We also recommend a “Frequently Asked Questions” page to also answer some questions that transfer students will have.

key words: WSU, credits, transfers, students

Table of Contents Intro memo………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Cover Page…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………. 5 Research Methods Task 1: Why credit transfer problems are happening…………………………………….. 6 Task 2: Process of credit transfers………………………………………………………………….. 7 Task 3: Why students transfer………………………………………………………………………… 8 Task 4: Investigate credit transfer problems…………………………………………………… 9 Results………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11 Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12 References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13

Executive Summary

On February 3, we received permission to study the transfer system of Weber State University. Initially, we were focusing on how the transfer system might be changed. However, after researching the method in which transfers are effected, we shifted our focus to how it could be made simple and understandable for those who wish to transfer to this university. In our study, we addressed these problems faced by transfer students:

. Many students lack an understanding of how classes and credits transfer

· There are very few resources with information to help transfer students

· The few resources that are available through WSU do not cover those

who transfer with degrees from other colleges · Lack of available information forces students to regularly have to contact

faculty member concerning transfer questions, concerns, and issues.

As of April 1, 2014, the transfer office of Weber State University offers no pamphlets, brochures, or any other kind of literature which gives any sort of guide or explanation to transfers. One member of our group has had to continually change his graduation date due to confusion concerning his degree, and how it worked into the transfer system

From our research, we have come up with the following recommendations:

· Create understandable literature on the subject of transfers

· Make this literature easily available and accessible to all

· Make a page that has frequently asked questions that potential students can access if they are unable to speak with administration.

We recommend that the transfer department make available simple, understandable literature which will explain the transfer process. This would then be readily available in the Weber State University website under the transfers section. In order to be all inclusive, it will also contain the necessary information for those who plan to transfer with a degree from another college.

Introduction

When students transfer schools, it is often that credits do not transfer, or they transfer incorrectly. Our goal is to solve the problems that come along with transferring from a different university to Weber State University, so that students are not wasting money or retaking classes. We plan to address these problems by speaking to academic advisors, the office of registration, and the office of admissions, as they are the ones who deal with transfers. The members of our group have firsthand experience with transfer problems and how they can slow down one’s academic career. With these experiences in mind, we feel we have the qualifications to address the problem of transferred credits. Students spend much time, effort, and money to take classes and earn credit. However, when a student decides to transfer from one school to another, problems come up. Credits from certain classes become non-transferrable, and the student is forced to take certain courses a second time. This can prolong graduation, and cost more money than the student had planned. There is a great need to resolve the issue of credit transfers between institutions of higher learning. We initially set out to recommend better methods of transferring credits to the Weber State University Transfer Office, but our goal changed after speaking to individuals who handle transferred credits. We came to find that the problem wasn’t the way the Transfer Office was transferring the students’ credits. It was the students are uneducated about the process, therefore not taking the appropriate steps to make sure all their credits count. Our new recommendation would be for the Transfer Office to create a pamphlet, brochure, or detailed guide which would provide students with all the information they need to know about transferring their credits from another school to WSU. This document should also explain the reasons why certain classes don’t transfer, or may transfer as a different credit than they initially expect.

Research methods

To acquire our information for this report, we divided our research into four tasks:

1) Become familiar with credit transfer problems 2) Find out the process of credit transfers and the people that handle the credit decisions 3) Gather information outside Weber State to see a national level of credit transfer

problems 4) Find the repercussions of why credits don’t transfer

We will discuss our findings in the following discussion. Task 1: Become familiar with why credit-transfer problems are happening When it comes to transferring schools, accreditation often becomes an issue. For a school to be accredited, the institution must be evaluated and meet a set of standards created by education authorities to ensure that it offers the best quality of education. However, not all accreditation is the same. There are three different types: regional, national, and specialized.

Regional accreditation is based on geographic location within the United States. There are six federally approved, regional Associations of Colleges and Schools: Middle State, New England, North Central, Northwest, Southern, and Western. Attending a regionally accredited school is the best choice is you want to either transfer schools or continue with graduate school because they usually accept credits from other regionally accredited schools. Weber State University is a regionally accredited university, which is part of the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Schools.

National accreditation is not based on geography, but evaluated based on the type of school. Some examples being career schools, technology programs, and institutions for distance education. Schools with nontraditional structure and course content are all nationally accredited. National accreditation allows institutions like trade schools or religious schools to be measured against specific standards based on the specific type of school, rather than a broad set of general standards.

Specialized accreditation is program-based and given to specific departments within a university, such as law or medicine. The agencies who give this type of accreditation are representatives of those industries and fields of study. They do not evaluate the entire school, only the specific programs within that school.

Accreditation is important when transferring credits, because regionally accredited institutions often do not accept credit from nationally accredited schools. We’ve found that locally this is a problem when students transfer from Davis Applied Technology College to any of the regionally

accredited, four-year universities in the state. Unfortunately, most students are completely unaware of what accreditation is and why the different categories make a difference when transferring credits. This information needs to be more accessible to all students, so they know immediately what will or will not transfer, and why that is the case.

Aside from problems with accreditation, the most notable reason for credits not transferring is a general lack of knowledge about how specific schools accept credit. Some schools are not “transfer-friendly” and have complicated transfer processes and require the expert assistance of a transfer coordinator or advisor. Using social media, we asked a few students who had transferred schools if they had any problems. The general consensus was that there was a lack of communication and information.

When trying to contact transfer advisors, they were put on hold for long periods of time, or even hung up on. This leads to many trying to figure out the system without assistance, which resulted in some credits not transferring or transferring only as electives. We also visited the Weber State transfer office to see if they had any sort of information to give students, like a pamphlet or brochure, and found that they did not have any such resources.

Task 2: Find out who is in charge of transferring credits between and the process

Each department at Weber State University follows their own process to the incoming credits from other institutions. To avoid multiple and lengthy questions for each department, we focused on a couple specific departments: English and Math. We learned that the Transfer Office is the department that handles the volume of transcripts and use a database to articulate the classes on the student’s transcripts.

After interviewing Debbie Murphy in the English department, she gave the enlightened information to how Weber State University handles credit transfers. She says there is a head for each department that makes the executive decision for credit transfers that need to be presented to them. For example, we learned that transcripts from out of the United States go by a case by case basis and are presented to the department. Then it will be decided if the classes will or will not be accepted at Weber State.

To begin the process, the student brings their transcript to the Weber’s transfer office. There, the transcript is manually put into a database that looks for key words. The person responsible is also looking to see if the classes have been put in the database before. If so, and the class matches the keywords the program looks for, then the class is accepted at Weber State. If not, the database looks more carefully, and if the class presented only matches 4 of the 5 required

keywords, then the class is only elected as an elective and won’t meet the requirement. Students can also monitor their credit transfers in their CatTracks in their student portal. There, they can see if it is accepted, under review or denied. They can contact the Transfer office if a significant amount of time has passed, and the student hasn’t seen any results of their transfers.

With students from another country, the process is a little different. First, the student needs to get their transcript translated from an agency into English. After it is brought to the Transfer office, it is also ran through the database. But also, with classes that are not in the database, the student will need to meet with each department on a case by case basis to ensure their credits transfer.

But there was one detail in the interview that was very surprising. Mrs. Murphy said that if students from out of state go back home and take some classes over summer and do not inform Weber what they are taking, it is very likely that the credit or credits will not transfer. But if they go to the transfer office and fill out a form that details what classes they will be taking, Weber will take that request and make sure that those credits transfer. This is one concept of the process that is not known here at Weber. While students have the online resources about the Transfer Guide and other resources, this process is not relatively known. Therefore, a possible recommendation to the Transfer office came to mind.

Mrs. Murphy also said in the interview that every department at Weber State follows this same process for both in state and out of state students. Students can meet with each head of a specific department to outline their college career at Weber, or resolve any lingering transfer issues. The database at the Transfer office is continuously updated with thousands of transcripts being sent in. Therefore, it is becoming easier for students to get the required credits to transfer and becoming more of a seamless process.

Task 3: Acquire knowledge of how many students transfer schools and why they do it According to the National Clearinghouse Research Center, a third of college students transfer once within their academic career and a fourth of students transfer more than once (NBC News). 928 transfer students are included in the student body of Weber State University. The most common transfer situation is those students transferring from a small, community college, or technical college, to a large university. A member of our group had this experience making a transfer from a small community college in California to Weber State University. As tuition rates continue to rise, it unfortunately becomes necessary for many students to transfer schools. Financial necessity was the reason

behind another member of our group’s decision to transfer from The University of Utah, a large, more prestigious school, to Weber State University. Another reason students might transfer schools, is because that school might offer incentives for transfers students. “Seventy-seven percent of colleges reported that they provide merit scholarships to transfer students. Eighty-one percent of small colleges, which have less than 3,000 students, report that they award merit scholarships to transfer students. In comparison, 66 percent of medium-sized schools and 67 percent of large schools offer merit awards”. (US News, 2010) Universities give this select group of students the opportunities for scholarships and grants if they will transfer from their current school. Since college in the United States is extremely costly, the chance for a scholarship is a great offer for any student. Another example of an incentive is: “The SAT and ACT, according to the NACAC survey, are less important for transfers than high school students. In fact, the more time you've spent in college, the less other institutions care about your SAT or ACT scores, according to Deborah Shames, an independent college counselor in northern New Jersey and a transfer admissions advisor for Kaplan Education Foundation. "If a student is transferring after one semester in college or a year, schools usually want the SAT and high school GPA, but the further away from high school, the less schools rely on them," Shames says. (US News, 2010) Students with lower SAT and ACT scores can transfer schools after two years and those scores will hardly be looked at. They’re given more of a chance than they were at the beginning when the scores were more prominent and weighing them down. Aside from financial necessity and academic incentives, there are several other reasons why a student might transfer schools. They may want to transfer from a smaller school to a more prestigious university with higher academic standing and more challenging curriculum; or perhaps the subject they want to major in is only offered at a certain university. Social and family situations can also come into play, whether a student needs to move closer to a sick family member, or simply wants to attend a school with a better social atmosphere. They might want more of a social life, or maybe they want a more serious atmosphere and less of a “party school”. Location and networking are important factors for choosing a school. For a student attending a school in a small, college town, networking may be very difficult, so perhaps they decide to transfer to a larger school in an urban setting where there more opportunities for meeting job contacts. No matter what the reason is, a great deal of thought and work goes into transferring schools, which makes it frustrating when credits do not transfer.

Task 4: Investigate the repercussions of students’ credits not transferring “It now takes full-time students, on average, 3.8 years to earn a two-year associate’s degree and 4.7 years to get a four-year bachelor’s degree, according to the advocacy organization Complete College America — further increasing the already high cost to families, and, at public universities, states. Only 61 percent of full-time students who set out to earn a four-year bachelor’s degree manage to do it within even eight years, Complete College America reports” (NBC News). The four-year bachelor’s degree is slowly becoming less common throughout the United States, as four-year completion rates steadily decline (see Figure 1). When credits do not transfer, students are wasting both time and money repeating classes and prolonging the completion of their degree. This also leads to a massive pile up of student debt, adding to the outstanding national student debt of $870 billion.

Figure 1 http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/07/were-number-nine.html

One issue with this comes to light when a student transfers with a degree. A student in our group transferred with an Associate’s degree from a small community college in California. Had he not done so, he would have had barely any classes transferrable. The degree took care of the good amount of the prerequisites. However, it does not specify which course credits were considered transferred, and which were not. Some courses which would not have otherwise transferred did transfer, while others had to be retaken. Because coming with a degree changed the circumstances of my transfer, the guide was of no help. Also, some courses he had to take were difficult to sign up for, because some require certain prerequisites that were not officially recorded, but were covered by his degree. He would constantly have to call the necessary departments to have them manually allow me access to these classes. Furthermore, some basic requirements, such as language, did not count in transfer and had to be retaken. This made it hard to plan out the graduation date. Even with the online graduation tracker, it was never clear if the transferred degree covered something not yet recognized by the digital records or not. Another student in our group transferred from The University of Utah and had issues with transferring both General Education requirements and major courses. Some of the General Education Courses taken at the U did not count at WSU, and many of the major courses were counted as electives. This group member was forced to retake courses in the first semester at WSU, which consequently added one semester to her time in school. This means she will graduate in 4.5 years and have to pay more money for school than originally expected.

Results

In this section, our findings are presented. Task 1: Become familiar with why credit-transfer problems are happening Transferring credits is more complicated than many may think. Those who are transferring for the first time may think that it is as simple as taking credits from a class taken from one college or university, and having them count for a class by the same title at Weber. However, this is not the case. There is a lack of information made available by Weber State University concerning how transfers work. They have a transfer guide available, but nothing else to explain the basics of it. The transfers department here on campus has no pamphlets or any other kind of literature for students to use. Another problem is the fact that even the transfer guide does not cover those who transfer with degrees. One member of our group has had to continually keep contact with various members of each department to keep track of the credits that have and have not transferred. This causes issues in regards to choosing schedules and planning graduation. The inadequate amount of information is the major issue regarding transfer problems. Sites such as CollegeTransfer.net show great examples of how to correctly explain credit transfers and how they work. A guide like this implemented into the Weber website, or available from the transfer offices, would prevent many of these issues from occurring in the future. Task 2: Find out who is in charge of transferring credits between and the process When we began our research, we assumed that the Weber State transfers department was in charge of handling all credit transfer requests. However, after some communication with a member of the transfer department, we discovered that each department (English, psychology, math, etc.) handles transfer requests individually. This means that, if one were to transfer credits from a math class from a previous college to Weber State, the math department faculty would determine how they would transfer. The same applies to all other majors and subjects. One who wishes to transfer will have to submit a transcript to the transfers department. This is all put into the university database, and each course that has been previously taken is sent to the corresponding department heads to see how the course will transfer, if at all. If any student has questions, disputes, or requests about how a transfer is handled, they can request a meeting with the corresponding department head to discuss it.

A student who is transferring can attend a transfer orientation. There, they can become familiar with the process and meet with an advisor. This being the case, it would still be helpful to all transfer student for the information about who takes care of credit transfers, and how they do it, to be available through the school website.

Task 3: Acquire knowledge of how many students transfer schools and why they do it

As stated before, a third of college students will transfer at least once in their academic careers. A member of our group transferred from a small community college to Weber State. Most of his reasons for this involved cost. He was able to receive an Associate’s degree while spending less on tuition than he would have at a university. Also, he was eligible for a scholarship at Weber State which helped cover much of the costs of classes and textbooks. Another student in our group also transferred to Weber State from a larger university, due to financial concerns. With the rising cost of tuition, one will find that many are transferring to save money more than anything else. Transfers also happen on account of transfer scholarships. If a college offers a good deal, then a student may be more inclined to switch. Weber State permits all transfer students to submit an application for a transfer scholarship, which takes their transcripts and other information to see if they are eligible for any scholarships at WSU. The member of our group who transferred from California did so partly because he was eligible for the alumni scholarship, which prevents any out of state tuition from being charged. Scholarships are great incentives for anyone wishing to transfer.

Finally, one more incentive to transfer would be the desire to further academic progress. Not all universities offer the same programs and degrees. This especially applies to small community colleges. Universities will more often offer broader programs, and higher levels of advancement. Some students will use smaller colleges to get a head start once they decide to transfer to a four year university.

With a large amount of students transferring for various reasons, it would then be logical to make the transfer process as simple to understand as possible. It would make Weber State a more desirable choice for transfers.

Task 4: Investigate the repercussions of students’ credits not transferring

Attending a college or university costs time and money. When a student attends long enough to earn a degree, those costs add up. When certain credits that have already been earned do not transfer, it only compounds the cost necessary to complete a degree. This can lead to much greater student debts. Students may even drop out of the program due to insufficient resources to continue.

Unexpected delays and issues with course transfers can cause serious issues in a student’s plans. Simplifying the transfer process would help many students with these issues. With more information about transfers available, students would then be able to better plan ahead, and be more in control of their academic progress. With the results we found, and if schools followed the recommendation we have provided, many aspects can change. Many include that less student debt will accrue and more students will be able to graduate at least with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Students can also use the information we have recommended to see what school is right for them not only with credit transfers, but also the programs they are desiring to attend.

Conclusions Our conclusion with this report was enlightening as we gathered our information. The interview with Mrs. Murphy about how the process works really gave us the direction that we needed. It allowed us to shift our view towards our new client, the Transfer office. There, we learned who our recommendation would be given to. We know that there is a severe lack of information concerning credit transfers available through Weber services. There are no pamphlets or brochures available through the transfer department, nor is there a “Frequently Asked Questions” page in the transfer section on the Weber website. The lack of knowledge on accreditation and how degrees work becomes a hindrance for all transfer students. The information would be extremely helpful in many ways. It would help students to plan out their graduation progress. Also, preemptively having this knowledge would aid students in choosing when to transfer, and what courses would be more helpful than others. These things in turn would prevent the loss of time and finances on having to repeat classes, or avoid unnecessary ones. The “Frequently Asked Questions” page would help answer any common questions potential students will have, and could affect whether Weber State University would be a good fit for them. It would clear up any part of the transfer guide that they may not understand as well. These recommendations would save potential student time and energy waiting on a response that may take longer than a month.

Recommendation Our recommendation would firstly be for the transfer office to develop clear literature, such as a pamphlet or a brochure, and make sure each transfer student receives it with their acceptance letter to Weber State University. We also recommend that the transfer section of the WSU website include a detailed FAQs section, which should include information about accreditation. Lastly, we want to recommend that the transfer office should improve their verbal communication with students. This could include having a few advisors present at transfer orientation to answer questions, or simply making sure that there are knowledgeable individuals always available to assist students in the transfer office. It is important that this information is clear and accessible for students, because their education is a high priority. It is also important that there are patient, skilled experts available to answer questions when students feel confused or uncertain. College students already spend enough time with their education, they don’t want to waste time retaking classes and prolonging their time in school. Making sure credits transfer will ensure a timely completion of a student’s degree. It will also prevent an increase of student loan debt and students will not owe large amounts of extra money after graduation. We present these possible solutions to the transfer office as a means of saving the time and money of college students. Credit transfer issues are a problem throughout the United States, and it is our hope that Weber State University could contribute to making credit transfers less difficult, therefore allowing students' academic careers progress smoothly towards graduation.

References

Bray, Kelly. (4 April, 2013). College Accreditation- Regional vs National Accreditation. Retrieved from http://www.elearners.com/online-education-resources/degrees-and-programs/regional-accreditation-vs-national-accreditation/

Grove, Allen. 5 Good Reasons to Transfer to a New College: This List Explains Why a College Transfer Might Make Sense. Retrieved from http://collegeapps.about.com/od/transferring/tp/reasons2transfer.htm

Grove, Allen. Cost of Transferring to a New College: A Change May be a Good Choice, but Students Need to Watch for the Hidden Costs. Retrieved from http://collegeapps.about.com/od/payingforcollege/tp/cost-of-transferring.htm

Marcus, Jon. (2013, March 22) Stopping the clock: Colleges under fire over credits that don’t transfer. NBC News. Retrieved from http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/22/17403973-stopping-the-clock-colleges-under-fire-over-transfer-credits-that-dont-count?lite

O’Shaughnessy Lynn. (2010, November 6) Transfer Students: 8 Things You Need to Know. US News & World Report. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/2010/11/16/transfer-students-8-things-you-need-to-know

Sources without authors:

FAQs About Accreditation. US Department of Education: The Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs. Retrieved from http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/faqaccr.aspx on April 2, 2014

Student Loan Debt Statistics. American Student Assistance. Retrieved from http://www.asa.org/policy/resources/stats/ on April 11, 2014

Weber State University Transfer Profile. CollegeTransfer.Net. Retrieved from http://www.collegetransfer.net/WeberStateUniversity/TransferProfile/tabid/145/Default.aspx on April 2, 2014

Weber State University Official Transfer Guide. Retrieved from http://www.weber.edu/admissions/transfer_guide.html on March 5, 2014

Interview source:

(D. Murphy, personal communication, March 18, 2014)