Students transferring to ASU from Pima Community College, near UA in Tucson, will have the chance to receive a tuition incentive from the University in addition to other benefits.
The TAG — Transfer Admission Guarantee — program will include a tuition cap for students who transfer from PCC to ASU within three years of receiving their associate’s degree.
The tuition cap would allow transfer students from PCC to pay the same tuition as if they had entered ASU their freshman year, Vice President for Transfer Partnerships Maria Hesse said.
In addition to the tuition incentive, Hesse said PCC transfer students who met the requirements of their degree programs would receive other benefits that vary from school to school.
These include guaranteed admission to their ASU academic program, University advisement even while at community college and potential for scholarships.
“Very often what we were hearing from transfer students was that they were picking classes that transferred, but none of the credits they were taking counted towards their degrees,” Hesse said, adding that the transfer agreement will help streamline the transfer process.
This is not the first agreement ASU has made with local community colleges, Hesse said. The University also has transfer agreements with Central Arizona College and the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges.
The eventual goal, Hesse said, is to create transfer agreements with every community college in Arizona.
“We’re hoping all community colleges within Arizona will have TAG accomplished or signed with ASU by the end of this academic year,” she said. The progress made so far has been encouraging, and PCC students are excited about the agreements’ possibilities,” Hesse said.
“This has been extraordinarily well-received,” Hesse said. “Students and parents like the simplicity of it, and they like the efficient use of credit.”
Rachelle Howell, the assistant vice chancellor for marketing at PCC, said in an e-mail that the college has transfer agreements with 11 other colleges and universities nationwide, but the tuition incentive is unique to the agreement between PCC and ASU.
ASU and PCC will be working together to decide which degree programs will be covered by the TAG agreement, she said.
Preston White, a criminal justice freshman attending Glendale Community College who is currently in the process of trying to transfer to ASU, said he thinks the process of transferring could be improved.
“I just wish they would give me a list of classes I need and the test scores I should aim for before I start the transfer process,” he said.
White said the transfer agreements ASU is aiming to create between community colleges and the University sound like they will be extremely beneficial to students.
“I’ve recently begun the process of looking into transferring, and if GCC has a program like this with ASU, I would definitely be interested,” White said.
Reach the reporter at allison.gatlin@asu.edu.
