DECATUR, Ala. — It's ‘National Transfer Students Week’ and local universities have met to sign an agreement that makes it a lot easier for transfer students to keep their co-op work programs when they switch schools.
Transferring from a community college to a university can already come with its challenges. Calhoun is making it a lot easier for their students taking advantage of their co-op programs to make that step.
We spoke with Joe Burke, Interim President of Calhoun Community College. He tells our reporter, “To have these four universities here represented today is a great testament to what we’re doing here in Calhoun Community College in the are of CO-OP learning programs.”
Calhoun Community College, Alabama A & M University, Athens State University, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the University of North Alabama all signed on the dotted line.
The institutions are finalizing new agreement to allow Coulhoun students to transfer to a local university of their choice and continue their hands-on experience with whichever co-op company they are already training with.
Burke explains, “They can keep their same employer, keep their same positions and make it a much smoother transition.”
We’re told academic credits have transferred over seamlessly for students who move on to a university. But, work-study or co-op positions have been more of a grey area. Today, it’s made clear that will no longer be an issue.
Officials say it’s important to accommodate these crucial programs. Joe Burke adds, “Almost all the time, those students who are in those CO-OP positions, they are hired full time once they finish their college careers.”
We also spoke with Pamela Little, Executive Director for Community College Relations and Global Initiatives at Alabama A&M University. She says this moment is a full circle one for her. Little tells our reporter, “The earlier part of my career was actually spent here at Calhoun. When I moved here to Huntsville, I actually started working here.”
She adds, she’s glad to be back and a part of something so impactful and that the signing couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. Little says, “The whole purpose behind that is to work with our transfer students, to address the obstacles they may have, to bring to the forefront of each institution the importance of having transfer students there… and so, again, today is very timely for us to be having such an event as this during ‘National Transfer Students Week’”
Calhoun representatives tell our reporter the program has been tested in an unofficial pilot for several months so the agreement is already in effect.
