Story by Anna Schlutt, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of pexels.com

Aquinas is working to make life easier for prospective transfer students. The college is in its second year of involvement with Michigan’s Transfer Pathway project.

This project is part of a national program that streamlines the transfer process, helping transfer students decide their course load without worrying whether their credits will carry over.

Through Transfer Pathway, the state of Michigan has selected the most popular degree programs that students look for when they transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. Then, professors in those fields of study decide on a list of classes that will be guaranteed to transfer to all colleges participating in the project.

Dr. Penny Avery, Department Chair of Communication and Theatre, is actively involved in the process. She says Aquinas being a part of Transfer Pathway is likely to increase enrollment and make life easier for transfer students.

“I think it could be super helpful for us in terms of making the process as easy as we possibly can for students who would like to come here,” Avery said.

Communication, one of Avery’s departments, was selected this year by Michigan as one of the programs to be included in Transfer Pathway.

That means some communication courses, like Intro to Communication and Interpersonal Communication, are automatically accepted by Aquinas as transfer credits. Community college students interested in communication as a field of study will be able to look at this list and decide their courses accordingly.

While this program doesn’t drastically change the courses Aquinas accepts from transfers, it makes the process simpler. Students will be able to find all the transfer information they need in one place, instead of looking up each course individually.

Unfortunately, Transfer Pathway isn’t going to help everyone. Lots of students enroll in community colleges without knowing what they want to study. Regardless, Avery still thinks this project will improve the Aquinas community and its relationship with local community colleges.

“I think it’s wise for us to have a mindset of partnership with community colleges rather than thinking about them as our competition,” Avery said.