The admissions office continues to work alongside the Virginia Community College System to welcome transfer students, expecting a possible rise in the number of transfer applications because of the recent economic downturn.
“We have seen a slight but steady increase in applications the last few years,” Admissions Dean Greg Roberts said.
Roberts attributed the increase during the past few years to the establishment of the University’s Guaranteed Admission Agreement.
According to the undergraduate office of admission Web site, under the GAA system the University guarantees College admission to any VCCS student who completes an associate degree, earns a minimum of 54 transferable credit hours, satisfies all area requirements and obtains an overall GPA of 3.4 or higher, among other criteria.
Andrew Erwin, Piedmont Virginia Community College’s college transfer guide, said the GAA requirements give “a clear cut path for students to successfully transfer over to school,” though he said only about one-fourth of community college transfer students meet these requirements.
Roberts added that the University expects an increase in the number of applications because of the recession.
“Because of the economic situation since many students choose to attend a VCCS school because of the inexpensive cost of tuition,” Roberts said
Community colleges are significantly less expensive not only because of their lower tuition, but also because of their lack of room and board and dining fees, Director of Financial Services Yvonne Hubbard said.
“You have to weigh the costs and benefits,” she added.
To help ease the financial burden of a four-year institution, Hubbard said Student Financial Services is well prepared to make financial aid available to an influx in VCCS transfer students through AccessUVA, especially during these economic times. She added that the commonwealth will provide a transfer grant to students to help offset the cost differences between University and VCCS college tuition, but noted that the state budget has not been finalized.
While the percentage of PVCC students looking to transfer to the University is about the same this year, the two-year institution’s population has increased, Erwin said. He noted that PVCC sends slightly fewer than 200 students to the College each year.
Northern Virginia Community College has experienced similar trends and expects its enrollment numbers to continue growing in light of the downturn.
In the [past two semesters our enrollment has been up 6 percent and expect that to continue in the fall,” said Julia Brown, special assistant for transfer services at NOVA.
“There are so many more [students] in the population now that want to go to college that the four-year schools don’t have room for everyone,” Brown said about the competitive spirit that she believes is forcing more people to come through community college before studying at a four-year institution.
As more students opt to pursue community college degrees — either because of financial concerns or increasingly competitive college admissions — the University is preparing to see more applications from these students.
“We believe VCCS students add to our community. They have different life experiences, many coming from lower income households, and a higher percentage are first-generation college [students],” Roberts said. ““There is a strong relationship between the two- and four-year institutions in the state and we work closely with the VCCS schools to attract and enroll students who would be interested in transferring to U.Va.”
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