COLUMBIA —The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education (CHE) is pleased to announce the release of an action plan with recommendations to improve the college transfer experience and help students who transfer graduate on time. 

The “South Carolina State Transfer and Articulation Action Plan” is the result of collaborative efforts from more than 40 higher education experts from institutions and organizations across the state.

“Optimized transfer and articulation processes are important to the CHE because they support college completion and on-time entrance into the workforce,” said CHE President and Executive Director Dr. Rusty Monhollon. “What’s most important, however, is that an effective transfer system saves students and families time and money in their pursuit of higher education.”

In 2021, the CHE partnered with the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to facilitate a statewide task force to increase excellence in state systems of transfer across all sectors of post-secondary education.

Although the project was facilitated by the CHE, SHEEO and the Gardner Institute, the analysis and subsequent recommendations were entirely the work of the task force. The task force consisted of more than 30 transfer experts from institutions across the state, representing all sectors of higher education: research institutions, four-year comprehensive teaching institutions, technical colleges and independent institutions.

The action plan proposes six recommendations to improve transfer in the state:

• Solicit and appoint institutional transfer liaisons at each participating institution, and convene regular statewide meetings for transfer policy development, collaboration, and professional learning.
• Develop, manage, and curate a robust statewide data system, and provide the CHE with the authority to request data from all participating higher education institutions.
• Convene a stakeholder group to review and address transfer articulation resources and needs.
• Require public and participating independent institutions to ensure students are adequately informed of transfer options and the transfer resources available to them.
• Develop a plan to facilitate and incentivize reverse transfer.
• Request state funding to establish student transfer scholarships and statewide awareness campaign for transfer.

The full report, which includes with a detailed explanation and discussion of all recommendations, is available to view or download on our transfer landing page at https://che.sc.gov/transfer.

(South Carolina Commission on Higher Education Press Release)