Drew University, RVCC ink ‘historic’ transfer agreement
MADISON – The presidents of Drew University and Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg signed documents Thursday to seal what they termed as a “historic” agreement to provide a full-credit transition for qualified students from RVCC to junior-class status in the four-year degree program at Drew.
“As far as we know, this is an historic first, a partnership between a community college and a four-year liberal-arts university undergraduate program that allows honors students to have a seamless transition from their community college experience to their liberal arts degree,” said Drew President MaryAnn Baenninger during a morning ceremony at Mead Hall. “Personally, this is very important to me. I was a community college student back in the day, and I left what was a great education at that community college before I got my associate’s degree, because I didn’t see that as a path to my four-year education.”
RVCC serves Somerset and Hunterdon counties, neither of which has a four-year college within its borders. Students who earn associate degrees there, with at least four honors-designated classes on their transcript, may transfer to Drew with junior status as long as they fulfill certain requirements, including graduating with a grade-point average of at least 3.25.
“I think this is a remarkable opportunity for our students,” said RVCC President Michael J. McDonough. “It addresses one thing, perhaps, that we really need to look at, and that is the success of our students. We have got to do a better job providing intentional pathways for those students.”
RVCC Honors College students benefit from being in small classes, taught by a select group of faculty, as part of a cohort-based program with seminar-style courses that have an interdisciplinary focus and build a close working relationship between students and professors.
“RVCC is one of the top community colleges in the region and has sent its graduates to some of the best colleges and universities in the country,” Baenninger said. “Drew is honored to partner with RVCC and to help its honors students enroll in and afford an education at New Jersey’s top-ranked liberal arts college.”
“I think we can build a very different model for student transfers here, because this agreement really addresses, for our students, two enormous hurdles,” McDonough said. “The first is seamless mobility. Our students must be afforded the opportunity to move from Raritan Valley with an associate’s degree and have junior status. We cannot simply engage in bickering about credits. That serves nobody’s purpose. And the second is affordability, and I think this agreement, in its scope and in its vision, it addresses those two issues. so what I hope happens beyond lots of students becoming interested and aware of this institution, what I hope happens over the course of the next three, four, five years that we build those authentic opportunities for engagement with each other.”
Speaking directly to Drew University faculty and administrators in the audience, McDonough added, “You have an absolute determination on our part that you will receive our very best, and our very gifted, and our most-deserving students.”
RVCC graduates will be eligible for annual scholarships from Drew based on their grade-point averages. RVCC Honors students who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 or higher will receive a $25,000 Honors Scholarship from Drew. Honors students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher will receive a $20,000 annual Presidential Scholarship from Drew; and a Deans Scholarship of $15,000 will be awarded to honors students achieving a 3.25 GPA or higher.
Students who are members of the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society will receive an additional $2,500 scholarship per year.
Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.