Cullowhee – Western Carolina University Chancellor Kelli R. Brown and Southwestern Community College President Don Tomas established the Catamount Compass Program on Oct. 1, which guarantees admission to Western Carolina for all Southwestern graduates who meet certain criteria.
“We want to make the process of transferring to Western Carolina University as smooth as possible for the graduates of all our community college partners across the region and the state,” said Brown.
The program builds upon the North Carolina Comprehensive Articulation Agreement, which governs the transfer of credits between the state’s community college and university system.
Earlier this year, six community college leaders met at Western Carolina, to find better ways for two and four-year institutions to work together to benefit students. The Catamount Compass Program grew out of that meeting.
As the second-largest feeder institution for Western, Southwestern sees most of its transfer students move on to Western.
“The vast majority of our college transfer graduates go directly to WCU,” said Tomas. “We’re proud to build on our strong and longstanding relationship with our educational partners at Western Carolina University.”
In fall of 2019, 819 students transferred to Western from community colleges, with 12.8 percent of them coming from Southwestern.
The agreement between Southwestern and Western is similar to agreements between Western and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.
Agreements with other community colleges are in the works. These agreements are particularly important to North Carolina, as 1-in-9 adults are enrolled in our state’s 58 community colleges. North Carolina has 735,000 community college students in total.
With nearly as many high school graduates planning to attend community colleges as universities, the crucial role of community colleges is evident.
As a recent The State of the South report attests, community colleges are “agent of change” that “help build an infrastructure of opportunity in non-metropolitan communities across the South.” Making the transition from community colleges to universities that much easier can make the system even more beneficial to community college students.
As Tomas said, “We’re here to serve our students and I’m gratified that this agreement will contribute to their success.”
Qualifications for the Catamount Compass Program are, in brief:
* be currently enrolled at Southwestern in a degree-seeking capacity.
* submit a Western Carolina applications by the deadline.
* submit application fees and all commitment-action steps.
* be in good standing at Southwestern and any other institutions attended.
* demonstrate good citizenship and conduct.
* earn and maintain a GPA of 2.50 at Southwestern and 2.20 in its most recent semester.
* earn an associate of arts degree from Southwestern.
* enroll at Western Carolina within one academic year of earning an associate of arts degree.
For more information, visit transfer.wcu.edu.