From Germanna Community College:
Germanna Community College and Southern New Hampshire University have announced a new partnership and articulation agreement that provides direct online degree transfer opportunities between the two institutions.
Under the agreement, students from Germanna will be able to transfer up to 90 credits and complete their bachelor’s degree online with Southern New Hampshire University.
SNHU is a regionally accredited institution via the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. All academic coursework in which students earn a grade of “C-“ or higher is fully transferable, based on course equivalents. SNHU will accept up to 90 transfer credits from Germanna toward a bachelor’s degree.
Germanna’s new College Everywhere accelerated, all online degree program has been a major success, with 68 percent of College Everywhere students earning a cumulative GPA of 3.0-4.0. Meanwhile, 55 percent of other students were in that range. College Everywhere allows Germanna students to earn a two-year degree in one year.
GCC President Janet Gullickson said the College learned during the pandemic that the flexibility of online learning was: “not only attractive to many students but helps families. The growth of online learning will make higher education more accessible and affordable nationally.”
She praised the agreement with Southern New Hampshire University, which will allow Germanna students to transfer to one of the fastest-growing institutions in the country with over 200 affordable online undergraduate and graduate degrees and do so without leaving home.
Through the agreement, eligible Germanna graduates, employees, and immediate family members of employees (spouse, domestic partners, children, siblings, and parents) will receive a 10 percent tuition reduction for SNHU’s online programs, to commence with the official signing. Additionally, the agreement allows for a waiver of the application fee to SNHU. Programs offered at military tuition assistance levels are not subject to the reduction.
“At SNHU, we partner with a number of community colleges across the country to help students continue their education, and we’re proud to be teaming up with Germanna Community College,” said Dr. Jennifer Batchelor, Senior Vice President at SNHU. “Through this new partnership, thousands of learners will have the opportunity to seamlessly transfer their credits to SNHU and continue on their educational journey.”
Germanna recently signed a similar agreement with the University of Virginia that will make it easier for students to earn both associate’s and bachelor’s degrees completely online. The UVA agreement means that qualified students who complete Germanna’s College Everywhere program will have early admission to UVA’s Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies of Bachelor of Healthcare Management programs, both of which are online and designed for working adults and part-time students.
“College Everywhere is a product of bold thinking at Germanna and, now in partnership with the University of Virginia, our highly motivated students will have the opportunity to enter one of the best universities in the country, Gullickson said “By signing this agreement, Germanna and UVA will encourage student achievement, increase bachelor degree completion rates and improve access and equity by facilitating the transferability of college credits and creating a streamlined transition from an associate degree to a bachelor degree.”
Under the partnership, students in Germanna’s College Everywhere program can apply for early admission to UVA’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, as long as they meet academic requirements. UVA will also waive the application fee for students who participate in the early admission option.
About 80 percent of community college students nationwide intend to get a bachelor’s degree, but only about 30 percent successfully transfer to a four-year institution, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The agreement aims to make the transfer process simpler for Germanna students who wish to continue learning online at UVA.
The Germanna-UVA agreement is only for online students and doesn’t change any other existing transfer processes, such as for Germanna students who wish to transfer to UVA’s residential programs.
