Community colleges, WestConn agree to simplify admissions

L-R: David L. Levinson, president of Norwalk Community College; James W. Schmotter, president of Western Connecticut State University; and Richard L. Sanders, president of Naugatuck Valley Community College, June 19 signed an agreement that will allow students to apply for admission to WestConn at the same time as they enter one of the community colleges.

DANBURY, Conn. — Western Connecticut State University, Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC) and Norwalk Community College (NCC) signed an agreement June 19 that will allow students at both colleges to transfer easily to the university to work toward a bachelor’s degree.

The agreement will allow transferring students to concentrate more on their education and less on the mechanics of the move between institutions. Often, transferring students lose credits because the school they are moving to does not accept every class from the previous school. That costs the students time and money.

The agreement was signed by NCC President David L. Levinson; NVCC President Richard L. Sanders; and WestConn President James W. Schmotter.

Schmotter praised the agreement for the support it will allow the institutions to give students.

“This will be more efficient, more effective,” Schmotter said June 19. “Students will waste less time because they will have access to both institutions at the same time. It just makes so much sense.”

Sanders said students entering his college will find a streamlined admissions system.

“This joint admissions/transfer compact is like having the applicant receive two acceptance letters, one from the community college and one from the university, in the same envelope, on the same day,” Sanders said. “What a great idea!”

Levinson said Connecticut’s changing economy will require institutions of higher education to evolve, too.

L-R: Levinson, Schmotter and Sanders following the signing.

“The promotion of this kind of ease of transfer is important for all of us,” Levinson said. “Higher education, and the production of knowledge workers, is the backbone of the economy. This agreement will spur more and more collaboration and we will eventually become a seamless entity of higher education for students.”

Under the terms of the “transfer compact,” students will be able to enroll in one of the community colleges and at the same time earn conditional acceptance to WestConn. Academic advisers at the community colleges and the university will work with such students to ensure maximum transfer of credit to satisfy bachelor degree requirements.

Students would enter WestConn with an associate degree from the community college and a minimum of 60 credits transferable to the university.

Over the past five years WestConn has enrolled an average of 144 students a year from NVCC and 50 from NCC. The agreement could increase those numbers.

In March 2007, presidents of the 12 Connecticut Community Colleges system and the four universities of the Connecticut State University System, along with the chancellors of the two systems, signed a Memorandum of Understanding designed to streamline the transfer process for students. The June 19 agreements among WestConn, NCC and NVCC are the first to follow through on that commitment.

State Rep. Robert Godfrey, D-Danbury, attended the signing ceremony in Warner Hall on WestConn’s Midtown campus.

“This is the culmination of ideas that have been kicking around for the better part of a decade,” Godfrey said. “To have the benefit of curriculum and geography, and to have the best of both is a wonderful thing for Connecticut.”

Lawrence D. McHugh, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut State University System, said the agreement will make life easier for students.

“I applaud the efforts of President Schmotter and his colleagues at the community colleges, taking this important step forward,” McHugh said.

Connecticut State University System Chancellor Dr. David G. Carter agreed.

“These efforts are driven by a desire to enhance educational opportunities for students throughout Connecticut, and ease their transition at every step along the education continuum,” Carter said. “This is an approach that makes sense and will help students, which is our top priority.”

NVCC offers more than 100 associate degrees and certificates to students living in 35 communities across western Connecticut from Litchfield to Waterbury to Seymour to Southbury and Danbury. Its 110-acre campus is located at 750 Chase Parkway in Waterbury off exit 18 on Interstate 84.

NCC serves about 5,000 students in 11 academic departments at its campus at 188 Richards Avenue in Norwalk.

WestConn, with two campuses in Danbury, is one of the four universities in the Connecticut State University System. About 5,000 undergraduate students study in four schools: Arts and Sciences, Professional Studies; Visual and Performing Arts; and the Ancell School of Business. For more information, visit www.wcsu.edu.

For more information, call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.