Working Together
TC, A&M deal streamlines student-transfer process
Thanks to an agreement signed by the presidents of Texarkana College and Texas A&M University-Texarkana, college students will find getting their degrees will be easier financially.
TC trustees voted unanimously during their regular meeting Tuesday to approve a dual admissions agreement and a financial aid consortium between the college and the university that will allow students a more efficient way to enroll concurrently and keep their financial aid. The agreement will also create clear pathways for students to achieve their education goals while streamlining required classes needed for bachelor’s degrees. “Our goal is to increase the percentage of the population with higher-education credentials in this area,” TC President James Henry Russell said as he and Dr. Emily Cutrer, president of A&M-Texarkana, signed the agreement.
“Students can take six hours at TC and six
hours at A&M-Texarkana and be considered full-time students and keep their financial aid,” said Donna McDaniel, TC vice president of instruction.
The agreement also contains cooperative degree plans and 2+2 Program articulation agreements for several programs and disciplines that allow students to complete two years of coursework at each institution.
McDaniel said the agreement is designed to encourage students to stay at TC and complete their associate degrees or certificates before transferring to A&M-Texarkana.
“The agreement and cooperative plans establish seamless transitions and pathways for students who want more than an associate degree,” McDaniel said. “Students will find that transferring courses between institutions will be an easier process than ever before.”
McDaniel’s counterpart, A&M-Texarkana Provost Dr. Roseanne Stripling, said the goal of the agreement is to provide an explicit pathway to an A&M Texarkana baccalaureate degree for all TC students.
“In doing so, our expectation is that students will avoid taking courses that do not apply to their desired degrees, thereby reducing their time to degree, as well as their financial investment,” Stripling said.
“It’s a proven fact that we lose people in transition,” Russell said. “We lose them from high school to college, from two-year colleges to four-year universities. But we also know it’s a proven fact that people have a much better quality of life when they complete their education. We want our students to have a vision of graduation, and not just from Texarkana College.”
The management of the agreement will be coordinated through the institutions’ registrar offices. The agreement establishes the terms and responsibilities of TC and A&M in recruitment and admissions, tuition and fees, student advising, management of student records and student grievances and conduct.
“From the A&M-Texarkana perspective, this is yet another opportunity to collaborate with our partner institution … for the benefit of our students and community,” Cutrer said. “By working seamlessly together under the provisions of agreements such as this, we ensure that our students have a clear path to achieve their higher-education goals.”
TC Board President Mike Sandefur agreed.
“We appreciate the hard work of everyone because all of this is for the students in our community. We are blessed to have our presidents work so well together,” Sandefur said.
The cooperative degree plans are Bachelor of Science degrees in nursing (RN to BSN), psychology, interdisciplinary studies and criminal justice and Bachelor of Business Administration.
The 2+2 Program will allow TC students with Associate of Applied Arts and Sciences degrees in the following fields to earn an A&M-Texarkana Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences: nursing, emergency medical technology, welding, office careers, electronics technology, drug and alcohol abuse counseling, diesel technology, culinary arts, cosmetology, industrial maintenance, construction technology, computer technology and information systems, computer networking, child development and automotive technology.