As a growing number of students are searching for a more affordable path to obtaining a baccalaureate degree, many more are now starting at a community college and then transferring to a four-year institution.

DePaul University, which has long been Illinois’ top private school destination for transfer students, is further stepping up its efforts to ease the transfer process to accommodate this growing trend by introducing new online tools and enhancing outreach strategies.

Fall 2008 figures show a nearly 17 percent jump in the number of students transferring to DePaul from community colleges. That followed a 12 percent increase in the number of students transferring from community colleges in fall 2007 over the prior year. As of fall 2008, more than two-thirds of DePaul’s transfer students came from community colleges.

“Nationally, the majority of undergraduates now have courses from more than one institution on their college transcripts. Our outreach and openness to transfer students is an acknowledgement of that new reality,” said David Kalsbeek, DePaul’s senior vice president for Enrollment Management and Marketing.

Illinois is at the forefront of making the transfer process as user-friendly as possible by providing students with information and online tools to determine how their course credits will transfer to four-year institutions. U.select Illinois – adopted in recent years by all community colleges as well as six state schools and DePaul University – provides transfer course lists and degree planning guides (www.itransfer.org) for community college students seeking to earn a baccalaureate degree. More than 1,300 students used u.select Illinois in 2008 to inquire about how their coursework would transfer to DePaul.
 
DePaul also has implemented a number of strategies to make it more transfer-friendly for students. DePaul now has course articulation agreements spelling out which courses will count for credit at DePaul with all 52 community colleges in Illinois, up from 22 in 2006. It also has these agreements with more than 400 other colleges and universities nationwide. To improve online communications and provide one-stop services for transfer students, DePaul has launched an online “Transfer Center” (www.depaul.edu/transfercenter) that debuted in January 2008 to help students immediately determine which of their college credits will apply to a DePaul degree.

DePaul also has increased staffing outreach to students and faculty outreach to community college faculty and streamlined the transfer process. For the third year, DePaul is hosting Accelerated Transfer Admission sessions at various City Colleges of Chicago and area community colleges, offering instant enrollment to transfer students who meet admission criteria. 

DePaul also has established a Transfer Honor Society in which members who have at least a 3.5 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale serve as mentors for new transfer students. DePaul is the only private university in Illinois that has a chapter of the national transfer honor society, Tau Sigma (tausigmanhs.org).

“DePaul has traditionally been a leader in accommodating transfer students, but we’re taking it to a new level in response to this growing trend,” Kalsbeek said. “We want to help transfer students and lead the way by making DePaul as user-friendly as possible to transfer students.”

         
“A core aspect of DePaul’s mission has been to serve students who come from a wide variety of economic backgrounds. This is one more way to make that mission a reality.”