Admission officials say it’s the largest increase in two decades.
Rhode Island College saw a 25 percent year-over-year increase in transfer students this fall.
“This is unquestionably the largest increase in transfer students I’ve seen,” says RIC Associate Director of Admissions and Transfer Coordinator Brian Stevens, who has worked in the admissions office for 20 years.
Stevens credits the rapid turnaround time in transfer applications as the driving factor in the increased transfer population.
“If a student applies today and submits their transcript, the approval goes out the next day,” Stevens says. “It’s conceivable to have a student’s credits evaluated by the end of a week.”
Many transfer students arrive at RIC through the Joint Admissions Agreement (JAA) Program. This is an agreement between RIC and CCRI, wherein if a student earns an approved associate degree at CCRI, they can get up to 30 percent of their RIC tuition reduced based on your CCRI GPA.
While CCRI accounts for most of the college’s transfer population, a considerable number of students have also transferred from Bristol Community College, the University of Rhode Island and Johnson and Wales.
Stevens says RIC’s investment in tools such as Transferology, a nationwide network designed to help students explore their college transfer options, has broadened the reach of the transfer office. Students can explore whether their courses will transfer by adding complete coursework, exams or military experiences to see which institutions within the Transferology network offer equivalent credit upon transfer.
“Through Transferology, students can see how their credits will transfer without having to guess,” Stevens says. “That has worked to our advantage as we’ve done a good job of populating that system with courses. Additionally, throughout the transfer process, our office put in a lot of work to be accessible and available to students.”
Stevens also praised the college’s faculty for providing swift feedback on whether a student’s previous work can be credited.
“Invariably, I get quick answers from faculty across the board,” he says. “Students want to know the return on investment for work they’ve already done. That’s a student-centered experience that’s rare to find elsewhere.”
Kayti Perez, a junior justice studies major, says transferring from CCRI to RIC was seamless.
“Anytime I needed help with anything, I got it every time,” says the Westerly native. “I chose to transfer to RIC to save money and because family members have gone here. It was the best choice for me.”
Learn more about Transfer Student Admissions at RIC.