In days past, transferring from a community college to a four-year university could be fraught with headaches for students. In moving from one institution to another, students would often lose credit hours with some community college courses not accepted at universities. But that trend is changing, according to Lisa Hill, Dean of Arts and Science at Beaufort County Community College.

Most recently, the community college entered into a partnership with The Citadel, a prestigious four-year military college in South Carolina. The agreement allows students to pursue a business degree at the college online, on campus or through some combination of both.

“We are excited to support the advancement of business students at our partner community and technical colleges in six states through these agreements. Our program is designed to meet the needs of those students while allowing them to stay in their communities,” said Jeremy Bennet, Ph.D., director of the degree completion program at The Citadel. “Students in these two-year programs will have shown the dedication needed to complete their associate degrees. Now, they won’t have to sacrifice credits when transferring to the Citadel.”

From a Comprehensive Articulation Agreement between N.C. Community Colleges and UNC system universities to specialized agreements in place between BCCC and four-year universities, making the leap from community college to a university has never been easier.

“Our ultimate goal is to provide a seamless transition for students, saving them time and money,” Hill said. “We encourage students from their fist semester here to take a course called ACA 122, where we help students develop a plan so they know which university they are interested in transferring to and which major.”

The Citadel agreement comes as an addition to agreements BCCC already has in place with East Carolina University, UNC-Wilmington and N.C. State University that help students move to those schools with relative ease. PackTracs, a program for N.C. State transfers, is designed to help students interested in agriculture move into N.C. State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. PackTracs guarantees admission to the college upon successful completion of the program at a participating community college.

Just down the road at ECU, a program called the Pirate Promise offers a similar arrangement for BCCC students. Those who earn an associate degree at the community college are guaranteed a spot at ECU and are offered a host of benefits, from joint academic advising to access to the libraries at ECU.

UNC-Wilmington also offers a head start for BCCC students through a co-admissions program called Pathway to Excellence, opening up new opportunities for students and allowing them to save as much as $10,000 on their education.

“Each of those agreements come with specific benefits,” Hill said. “For example, most of them guarantee admission, so it eases the nervousness from the student and the family of wondering if they will be accepted.”

To ensure the transfer goes smoothly, Hill says it is vital that students complete their associate degrees before transferring. Otherwise, they may miss out on some of the credits they earned at BCCC.

“The first thing we have to do is educate parents and get parents and students to understand the value,” Hill said. “The days of saying ‘I went to a community college and took all these courses and it was a waste of time,’ those days are gone now. We’re past that now. So we need to work on educating students and families on the time savings and the cost savings they could benefit from starting at a community college.”

For more information on the transfer programs available at BCCC, visit www.beaufortccc.edu/transfer.