A proposal that was given at a University of Connecticut Senate meeting on October 14th, caused misunderstandings around the state as students and professors worried UConn would begin restricting transfer students. The CT mirror published a story about the proposed change on Oct 30th, publishing a memo by UConn’s Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Sally Reis and Wayne Locust, Vice President for Enrollment Planning and Management, concerning the “rationale for limiting the number of transfer credits for UConn students who matriculate as freshmen.”

The proposed change would affect students who begin their college career at UConn as a freshman, limiting the amount of classes they can transfer into their degree program off UConn’s campus. The original policy language allows students to take up to 90 credits during their summer and winter breaks and apply them to their full course load at UConn. This amount of credits are equivalent to how many credits the average student takes in 6 semesters. The proposal would reduce the amount to 30 credits, and is said would affect nearly 70 students.

Much of the confusion around the proposed change came from a Journal Inquirer article posted on their web-site on Nov. 1st. which read “But it would mean that students who graduate with a two-year degree from a community college and enter UConn for a bachelor’s degree would spend an extra year in college- they would enter UConn as sophomores, rather than as juniors.”

MCC Prof. Townsend, faculty member who helped send the letter to UConn faculty.
Photo courtesy of www.natcom.org

In a email to Manchester Community College professor Rebecca Townsend, Reis stated “the current policies governing the transfer of Connecticut community college degree recipients to UConn have not changed. The existing policies, including the guaranteed admissions program (GAP), remain in effect.”

Though the proposal has been abandoned, UConn senate stating that it has gotten to much bad publicity, the language in Reis memo on the rationale of the proposal has opened some wounds with colleagues in the community college system. The memo states, “Many of our students are taking easier and cheaper classes elsewhere, and our data trends suggest that if they take a pre-requisite at a community college, they often fail the subsequent courses they take here at UConn.”

Faculty and Staff at MCC fired back on Nov. 6th with an open letter to UConn, “Reis and Locust note that many students transfer from community colleges and call these courses ‘easier and cheaper.’ They offer no evidence that classes at community colleges are ‘easier.’ This is a fallacy and distracts from the greater pursuit all of us in academia share: high quality education.”

As a student from MCC who intends to transfer to UConn, the misinformation made me worry that I would have to pay more for my education due to UConn digging for more funds from their transfer students. My last 4 semesters have been challenging at MCC, my professors having qualifications that have exceeded my expectations of a community college professor. I feel like i have been prepared for any rigors UConn tries to throw at me, and students going through community colleges should be insulted that they see us as sub-par students.