David Saveanu
Staff Writer
The transfer process can seem overly complicated when looking at it as a student just beginning their college career, or simply a student starting to look at transferring to a four-year university soon.
Beth Chepan, credentials specialist with Parkland’s office of Admissions and Records said there are different types of credit hours students can complete.
“There are transfer credits and occupational credits,” Chepan said.
The difference between the two types can be very important when transferring.
Classes like welding that are specific to an occupation will most likely not transfer unless otherwise agreed upon by the specific school the student is transferring to. Because of this, it is advised that students contact their desired school before transferring, and discuss their courses. General courses that nearly all students need to take are often transferable, however.
Students are also now able to reverse transfer courses, which is the process of taking courses at their four-year university to complete a degree they began at Parkland. This is a fairly new program implemented by Parkland, aimed towards students who transferred on to four-year universities before getting their associates.
Parkland emphasizes the importance of students getting their associates if they can, because it’s seen as a safety net in case students can’t finish their bachelor’s degrees.
The universities that Parkland has been working with to transfer courses back from are Millikin University and University of Illinois. Parkland is also currently working on getting Eastern University on-board with the program.
International students can have unique hurdles when transferring credits from their home countries to Parkland.
“Students complete their school at a 4-year university in a different country or they bring in transfer credits,” Chepan said. “Students that bring in a foreign transcript, we have to have them specifically evaluated through an accrediting agency.”
“They would submit their transcript to this company, and they’ve got catalogues from all over the world, they evaluate it to English curriculums,” Chepan said.
After foreign transcripts have been evaluated, international students must meet with department chairs to figure out their next steps.
“We then ask that the student meets with the department chair within that discipline,” Chepan said. “We can’t do it course by course, so we do it course by transfer.”
This means that Parkland will look for course substitutions for not as common courses, and try to find them equivalent courses they can take to substitute for the credit.
Students in the military also have to be aware of this process. Student veterans need to look at which courses transfer before coming to Parkland, or before moving on to four year universities.
Admissions and Records staff explained that most schools in the United States are regionally accredited, meaning they fit to a specific code. Less common are the nationally-accredited colleges, which are either unorthodox colleges or ones that did not fit the criteria regionally.
Colleges may not transfer courses if they don’t share the same accreditation; Parkland for example is a regionally-accredited college and is able to transfer courses to majority of universities in the central and southwestern U.S., besides nationally-acclaimed colleges.
Parkland also has a unique way of numbering their courses to make the transfer process easier for students. The second digit in a courses number tells if it is transferable; if the digit is even, it is transferable, if odd it is not. This system is meant to make it evident which courses students will be able to transfer.
If you have any questions regarding the transfer process, reach out for help in the Parkland Admissions and Records office. You can contact them by calling 217-351-2482.
