AUBURN – Some local community college students will soon be guaranteed admission into the University of Southern Maine.
A pact to be signed Friday will allow Central Maine Community College liberal arts graduates to transfer to a four-year university program without completing an application, without taking the SATs and without paying an application fee.
To be eligible, community college students must have completed an associate of arts degree in liberal studies. They must also notify officials of their intent to enroll and they must pay a $100 admission deposit.
Transfer students will be considered USM juniors, which allows them to complete a bachelor’s degree in two years.
“It’s a kind of upfront assurance for people that the program transfers,” said Scott Knapp, president of Central Maine Community College in Auburn.
The two schools have agreed for more than 15 years that CMCC students could transfer some course credits to USM campuses in Portland, Gorham or Lewiston. But this is only the second agreement that guarantees students can transfer an entire program.
The schools have a similar arrangement for students in CMCC’s machine tool program.
The new agreement is part of the college’s effort to draw more students into the community college system while encouraging graduates to continue with their educations. Officials say the pact will make transferring both cheap and easy.
Because the community college’s tuition is less than half USM’s tuition, bachelor’s degree candidates can save thousands of dollars by attending CMCC for two years.
There are some conditions. A student’s grade-point average will not transfer to the university. Students will not be able to transfer credits from classes in which they earned below a C-minus. And they must have completed 45 credits, or about 75 percent of their associate’s degree program, before notifying officials that they want to attend USM.
Knapp and USM President Richard Pattenaude will formally sign the agreement at 9:30 a.m. Friday. It will become effective immediately.
ltice@sunjournal.com
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