RALEIGH, N.C. ― North Carolina’s far-ranging higher education system is expected to finalize a deal Friday that would eliminate red lights along the paths of students wishing to transfer.
The University of North Carolina Board of Governors and the State Board of Community Colleges are scheduled to sign an agreement easing the way for students to transfer between 58 community college and 16 public university campuses across North Carolina without losing class credits.
Credit transfer agreements have been updated periodically between the two systems for nearly two decades. Many of the state’s private colleges also accept community college credits under the same guidelines.
The current rules define a general education core of 44 community college credit hours ― about three semesters of full-time study ― that is fully transferable to UNC schools. Students who transferred before meeting that credit-hour mark with a C grade or better often weren’t allowed to count all their work toward the general education requirements of a bachelor’s degree. That meant taking a similar course again at the university level.
The new rules guarantee that every UNC campus will recognize any or all of 30 semester hours of courses completed with a C or better.
The revised agreement, taking effect with the next academic year in August, also better aligns course requirements in each system.
Cathy Sink, 40, of Thomasville, earned an associate’s degree in science from Davidson County Community College. But the way the two systems treated major requirements meant some of the courses Sink said she needed for her community college degree weren’t required for the bachelor’s degree in kinesiology she’s now pursuing at UNC-Greensboro.
