As an increasing number of families look for ways to effectively manage college costs, a growing number of students are starting their higher education at community colleges and then transferring to traditional four-year institutions to earn their bachelor’s degree. As a result, community colleges across the nation have seen enrollments soar in recent years.

In order to help community college students most effectively plan their entire college careers before transferring to four-year institutions, DePaul University has initiated the DePaul Admissions Partnership Program (DAPP) with a number of its top community college partners, including City Colleges of Chicago, College of DuPage, Harper, Oakton and Moraine Valley community colleges.

For students from participating schools looking to complete their bachelor’s degrees at DePaul, DAPP provides a number of benefits including:

"As Illinois’ largest private school destination for transfer students, with more than 2,500 in the past year, DePaul University has been especially sensitive to the needs of community colleges,” said Suzanne Depeder, assistant vice president for graduate and adult enrollment at DePaul. “These innovative agreements with our top community college partners will greatly serve transfer students and the colleges from which they arrive.”

DAPP builds upon previous work DePaul has done to become a more inviting environment for transfer students, including compiling a list of more than 100,000 transferable courses from Illinois community colleges and many other two- and four-year institutions nationwide. Transfer guides for DePaul’s 22 top feeder community colleges and the transfer course list are available on DePaul’s website. These transfer guides link directly to DePaul’s degree requirements, providing up-to-the-minute accuracy for students.  

DAPP also provides students with the opportunity to build strong academic records at their community colleges, which will enhance their ability to earn their bachelor’s degrees at DePaul while keeping the costs of the degrees more attainable. Students are provided with degree pathways that show the students the courses that will apply to both the associate and bachelor’s degrees. These degree pathways allow the students to complete their DePaul degrees as transfer students with very close to the same number of credits as if they had started at DePaul as freshmen. 

“The DePaul Admissions Partnership Program provides access to a top-tier university to many students who, for a variety of reasons, may not have thought it would be possible,” said Lois Bishop, director of community college partnerships at DePaul.

About DePaul University

With more than 25,000 students, DePaul University is the largest Catholic university in the United States and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest. The university offers approximately 275 graduate and undergraduate programs of study on three Chicago and three suburban campuses. Founded in 1898, DePaul remains committed to providing a quality education through personal attention to students from a wide range of backgrounds.

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