Faculty leaders from the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College developed a joint set of principles to guide Transfer Pathways work, including:

• The college will engage students in the major early through academic advising.
• Students will be able to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in three years or fewer after transfer.
• Transfer associate degrees will be designed for a more efficient and expedited completion of a bachelor’s degree.
• Students who transfer with an earned Associate of Science (A.S.) or Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree will be prepared for upper-division status.
• Institutional representatives will communicate regularly to update transfer degree pathways and share student data.

Articulation Agreement Construction Principles:

• Agreements are completed in writing on a common template which includes common language and definitions.
• Agreements are developed for specific programs/majors to provide clear transfer direction for students.
• Agreements are developed by academic administrators in consultation with qualified teaching faculty.
• The Senior Associate Vice President in Academic Affairs & Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Utah, Martha Bradley-Evans, and the Provost of Academic Affairs at Salt Lake Community College, Clifton Sanders, are responsible for facilitating the transfer and articulation process and updating articulation agreements.

A core purpose of the Transfer Pathways initiative at Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah Office of Undergraduate Studies is to help students succeed and to develop and facilitate academic transfer pathways that are effective, efficient, and equitable.

University of Utah

Beth Krensky, Director of Transfer Pathways, Office of Undergraduate Studies

Salt Lake Community College

Rachel Lewis, Assistant Provost, Curriculum and Academic Systems

• California’s Associate Degree for Transfer
• Colorado’s Transfer Degree Agreements
• Michigan’s MiTransfer Pathways Project
• Ohio’s Guaranteed Transfer Pathways
• Tennessee’s Transfer Pathways

• Existing Articulation Agreements
• Articulation Agreement Template

USHE policy R470 

• General Education, Common Course Numbering, Lower-Division Pre-Major Requirements, Transfer of Credits, and Credit by Examination (coming soon)

USHE Brief on Student Swirling (2017)

• Transfer Data from OBIA 
• Transfer Presentation from the 2019 Transfer Pathways Summit 
• Transfer Research and Data from SLCC
• Research on transfer by University of Utah Faculty: Dr. Jason Taylor and Dr. Christie Toth
  1. Inter-Institutional Partnerships for Academic Freedom: Reversing 'The Great Credit Grab'
  2. “Mutual Adjustments: Learning from and Responding to Transfer Student Writers”
  3. Multiple Dimensions and Meanings of Transfer: The Transfer Function in American Higher Education
  4. Reverse Credit Transfer Policies and Programs: Policy Rationales, Implementation, and Implications
  5. CWID Data Note: Reverse Credit Transfer: Increasing State Associate's Degree Attainment

  6. Postsecondary Transfer and Mobility in Michigan: Exploring Transfer Patterns, Programs, Places, and People

  7. Traveling Together: Rewriting Transfer Student Literacy Sponsorship
  8. The Work of Boundary-Crossing in a Community-Engaged Literacy Course

• Improving Credit Mobility for Community College Transfer Students: Findings and Recommendations from a 10-State Study
• Transfer Playbook Essentials
• Creating and Sustaining Community College-University Transfer Partnerships
• GAO Report on Transfer
• Get with the Program, and Finish It
• Building Transfer Student Pathways for College and Career Success
• Culture and Ideology in Keeping the Transfer Commitment: Three Community Colleges
• Crossing Boundaries Creating Community College Partnerships to Promote Educational Transitions
• Indiana Regional Transfer Study: The Student Experience of Transfer Pathways between Ivy Tech Community College and Indiana University
• One Goal, Two Institutions: How a Community College and 4-Year University Partner to Bridge Student College Readiness Gaps
• Takes Two to Tango: Essential Practices of Highly Effective Transfer Partnerships
• “A Hand Hold for a Little Bit”: Factors Facilitating the Success of Community College Transfer Students to a Large Research University
• The Engineering Admissions Partnership Program: A Navigation Strategy for Community College Students Seeking a Pathway into Engineering

Bridge Courses Between the University of Utah and SLCC

1. Contract Courses 101
2. Contract Course Proposal Form

Return to the U (RTU) 

Return to the U (RTU) is designed for post-traditional students and other adult Learners who have some college and no degree who wish to return to school to finish. 

RTU is a three pronged approach:

1. Outreach– Marketing campaigns and other outreach targeting the post-traditional student who have some college and no degree
2. Pathways– Programs that provide a clear path to completion that these students can understand and see as valuable for their future
3. Support– A student success advocate dedicated to RTU who help students understand what they need to return and succeed

Our team works with departments to create completion pathways for students so that they can declare their majors and graduate efficiently. These pathways feature online and evening classes at the Sandy Center in order to appeal to adult learners with flexible options that fit their schedules. The departments that we have partnered with already (Economics and Psychology) have also provided extra advising and student support for this population in collaboration with our dedicated student success advocate.

^{For Departments and Colleges that want to participate in Return to the U, please contact Kurt Guner (kurt.guner@utah.edu), the Adult Learner Program Coordinator, for more information.}

• Articulation Agreement: “An articulation agreement is a legal document produced when two or more academic institutions follow a process leading to a partnership to provide a formalized pathway for student transfer” (see https://www.shoreline.edu/programs/definitions.aspx ). Articulation agreements define contractual agreements between institutions guaranteeing specific services and processes for students to transfer from SLCC to the University of Utah. Agreements, as well as policies and procedures relating to transfer, should be easy to understand, readily available and widely distributed. 
• Program Articulation Agreement: A specific set of courses is designated to meet specific course requirements at another institution. Typically, these agreements focus on freshman and sophomore course preparation to enter a major, rather than meeting general education requirements. These agreements are typically designed as “handoff” agreements; students complete a program, then transfer. 
• Course Articulation Agreement: Defines how a particular course will be accepted and applied to degree requirements at the receiving institution when transferred. o Course Acceptance: courses are accepted at the receiving institution. o Course Applicability: how the accepted course applies to degree requirements at the receiving institution.
• Memo of Understanding (MOU): A formal document describing the broad outlines of an agreement that two or more parties have reached through negotiations. It is not a legally binding document but signals the intention of all parties to move forward with a contract.
• Statewide Transfer Agreement: USHE policies (R4701, R471, R401) define statewide transfer within the Utah System of Higher Education. Any program and/or course transfer covered under these policies do not require a specific transfer agreement.

Glossary of Terms from the University of Utah Office of the Registrar 

• Transferable Academic Credit - All credit earned at another Regionally accredited college or university that is approved for transfer to the University of Utah (From Policy 6-404) 
• course articulation: (direct articulation) “Acceptable as, or in lieu of.” Course assumes all UofU course benefits such as general education designations. It will apply like UofU course when minimum grade requirements have been met. For example PSY 101 General Psychology from sending institution is articulated to PSY 1010 General Psychology at the UofU (receiving institution).
• course substitution: Transfer course is not articulated however will count for major/minor requirements within the degree audit with minimum grade
• articulation agreement: Documented relationship between institutions regarding how various courses will be transferred
• 2+2 program articulation (major preparation agreements): An agreement between a Community College and 4 year institution to streamline transferability. The program requirements are clearly defined where two years are completed at each institution.
• Receiving institution: Institution where the course are being transferred – University of Utah
• Transfer institution: Institution where the courses were originally taken
• Transfer credit evaluation: Process of evaluating incoming transfer credit for equivalency and applicability to degree requirements
• Course acceptability: The process of determining which higher education courses will transfer to the University of Utah.
• Course applicability: The process of determining if or how course work from one institution applies to degree requirements in specific programs of study at another institution.
• transfer pre-requisite: An articulated transfer course will be used in pre-requisite checking, whereas transfer courses without an articulation will not 
• Non-transferable: a course that is not accepted at the University of Utah 
• Upper division courses: Courses that are typically considered to be at the junior or senior level (courses numbered 3000-4999)
•  Lower division courses: Courses that are typically considered to be at the freshman or sophomore level (courses numbered 1000-2999) 
• Types of credentials: 
• Associate of Science/Arts: An award conferred by a college or university signifying that the recipient has satisfactorily completed a course of study which generally takes two years of full-time enrollment.
• Associate of Applied Science: An associate degree that typically includes technical, hands-on experience related to a specific professional field. An associate of applied science, associate of pre-engineering, or other variations do not clear the general education requirements. 
• Interstate Passport credential: a block transfer of lower-division general education courses which clears all general education requirements for graduation.

• University of Utah 4 Year Plans
• Salt Lake Community College Graduation Maps 

• Salt Lake Community College Transfer Website

• Transfer Pathways Summit Worksheet

• Transfer Student Experience

• Best Practices Panel
• Student Experience Presentation

• Student Transfer Process Recommendations

• Transfer Tools
• Transfer Students by the Numbers