Students from Onondaga Community College will now be able to transfer ‘seamlessly’ to Syracuse University for 33 areas of study, administrators from both schools announced Wednesday morning. 

Chancellor Nancy Cantor and OCC President Debbie Sydow signed the ‘2+2 Dual Admission Agreement,’ which brings students in good academic standing from OCC after two years into bachelor’s programs at SU. The agreement is meant to continue SU’s commitment to improve the Syracuse and Central New York area by increasing educational opportunities to its residents. 

‘This is a very significant step forward’ in the relationship between OCC and SU and in offering students ‘tangible benefits’ from that partnership, Sydow said. 

Ninety percent of students at OCC come from the Central New York region. The agreement would allow these students to enter OCC with guaranteed transfer to SU after obtaining their two-year associates degrees, as long as they maintain a strong grade point average. 

Six SU schools and colleges are a part of the agreement, as they offer programs of study, such as the social sciences and engineering, that match associate degrees at OCC. These colleges include the College of Arts and Sciences, the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the School of Education. The College of Visual and Performing Arts and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications are among those not on the list of possible areas of study. 

Another part of the ‘2+2’ agreement is a feature called predictive financial aid. When students enter OCC as freshmen, they will receive a financial aid estimate for their two potential years at SU, said Don Saleh, president of enrollment management at SU. 

With this predictive financial aid package, students at OCC could start saving and planning how they will pay for SU or could decide if the transfer is financially possible, he said. The package will include all expected costs: room and board, tuition, books and supplies.

The agreement continues Cantor’s call for SU and its students to make the university an anchor institution for the city by providing channels for advancement, economic development and social progress. 

‘The agreement perfectly complements the Say Yes program,’ Sydow said. The Syracuse Say Yes to Education program gives the 21,000 students in the Syracuse City School District the opportunity for guaranteed admission to SU, OCC and a host of other colleges and universities around the state. 

Through the agreement, students from the city school district can begin at OCC and then move on to SU without the anxiety associated with the college admissions process, Cantor said. 

The program is another way for SU to target a demographic likely to stay in the Central New York area following graduation, providing skills and knowledge to strengthen the community, administrators said at Wednesday’s press conference. 

OCC and SU also signed on to a joint agreement that will provide selected staff and faculty at OCC with a full ride to SU as they pursue a master’s or doctoral degree.

Eric Delfavero, a student at OCC and vice president of services of the honors fraternity Phi Theta Kappa, also spoke Wednesday. She said she went to OCC because of the courses she could take and because she was not quite ready to leave home. But she said she always intended to transfer after graduation to get her bachelor’s degree. 

Though she said not all students know where they want to transfer when they enter community college, the smooth transition the ‘2+2’ agreement now provides ‘makes the decision in the end a lot easier.’ 

rastrum@syr.edu

Published on November 17, 2010 at 12:00 pm