North Texas colleges want to make transferring between schools easier, saving students time and money

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Transferring between North Texas colleges could get easier because of an effort to prevent students from losing credits and help them stay on track to finish their degrees.

Four Dallas-area schools — Dallas College, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas Woman’s University and the University of North Texas at Dallas — are partnering to improve the pipeline from community college to four-year universities. The schools are introducing joint academic advising and new programs of study to help students pick courses that will transfer between the schools and count toward their bachelor’s degrees.

More than 13,000 Texas students who transferred from a two-year college to a university in the fall of 2022 did not receive credit for at least one of the courses they completed, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Those students did not get credit for about 21,000 community college courses because those credits fell outside of their new school’s degree requirements.

Students lose time and money when they take classes that don’t end up counting toward their degrees. The setback can discourage them from seeking or completing their bachelor’s degree altogether. Those who do complete their degrees are not graduating fast enough, which delays their entry into the workforce and makes going to college more expensive.

The partnership between the Dallas-area schools includes three new programs of study in high demand fields — business, education and health sciences. The schools have agreed on what Dallas College courses will be counted for credit if students transfer to related majors at the Texas A&M Commerce, TWU and UNT-Dallas.

“The collaborative will simplify the process by providing clear, concise information for students,” UNT-Dallas President Warren von Eschenbach said. “It's really building the bridge across that pipeline between the two-year and the four-year institutions.”

The new programs of study mimic Texas Direct, a state transfer initiative that identified courses from several majors that would be guaranteed to transfer to any public university in the state.

The Dallas-area schools will also launch an online portal in the fall where prospective students will be able to see how their credits will be counted across the schools and track their progress toward degrees.

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Texas legislators changed how they finance community colleges last year in part to incentivize transfers. Community colleges now get more money when their students earn at least 15 semester credit hours before enrolling in a four-year university.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: Texas A&M University and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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