SC’s technical colleges are producing strong students prepared to strive and achieve

For more than 60 years South Carolina’s technical colleges have been the workhorses of higher education in our state. They are affordable and accessible, with a little over half of all undergraduates attending one of our colleges.

Many see our colleges as places where South Carolina’s workers can retrain, add technical skills and earn job certifications.

While this is a large part of what our colleges do, we also have a quieter role — helping students earn two-year degrees that prepare them to transfer smoothly to a four-year college or university.

Agreements in place

The System’s transfer programs smoothly transition students from any of our 16 technical colleges to the four-year South Carolina college or university of their choice.

We have agreements in place with most colleges and universities in the state, and these agreements enable students to achieve their educational ambitions.

We have agreements with the University of South Carolina, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, MUSC, South Carolina State and Claflin, just to name a few.

And just over the past several weeks we have added Webster University, Anderson University and Lander University to the list.

Each agreement is designed to get a student to their desired educational goal in a timely, affordable manner.

In general here’s how these agreements work:

Upon completing an Associate of Arts, Associate of Science or Associate of Applied Science degree at their local technical colleges, students can seamlessly transfer to their chosen four-year institutions.

Students who have completed their degrees at South Carolina’s technical colleges with a “C” grade or better in each required course will enter their chosen college or university with junior standing — and they will have completed their general education requirements.

All courses transferred will be applied toward attaining each student’s desired baccalaureate degree.

The transfer agreements help pave the way, but our students truly make these partnerships successful.

They want more for and from themselves, and the transfer pathway helps them see their educational goals and make them happen.

Success stories

Take, for instance, our partnership with MUSC.

A Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Studies program was created as a medical school pathway for technical college students; participating students transfer 72 credit hours into the online bachelor’s program.

By December 2020 the program will have 32 graduates.

The degree produces graduates in health care-related employment, and many advance to master’s programs.

In January 2016 we developed a Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing agreement with Claflin University, and since its inception the program has seen more than 80 graduates.

In fact, 95% of Claflin’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing students come from one of the System’s technical colleges.

The program is so successful that we are working to explore additional transfer opportunities.

Better students

Institutional partners value the caliber of students they receive through transfer agreements, and transfer students — especially those who have first earned an associate degree — are more likely to complete their four-year degrees.

Last fall Coastal Carolina enrolled 305 new transfers and experienced a 77% retention rate of transfer students.

Meanwhile, the University of South Carolina indicated their Fall 2017 cohort included more than 1,000 transfers with a 3.0 grade point average.

The SC Technical College System is always seeking new and innovative ways to ensure our students have access to all that higher education has to offer, and despite the pandemic new partnerships are still forming.

For information on the SC Technical College System’s transfer opportunities, visit http://www.sctechsystem.edu/students/transfer-programs.html

Tim Hardee is president of the SC Technical College System.

This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 9:00 AM.