CIC and OFIC Launch Consortium for Transfer Pathways in the Liberal Arts in Ohio

The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) announce a grant from the Teagle Foundation and Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to launch an Ohio Consortium for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts. This new project will bring together 14 independent colleges and universities and 10 community colleges in Ohio to establish three pathways to a baccalaureate degree in English, psychology, and biology for students at community colleges.

The Ohio Consortium will build on lessons learned through CIC’s previous Teagle-supported project to support community college transfer into CIC member institutions in North Carolina, “Independent Pathways: Community College Transfer in the Liberal Arts.” In announcing the grant, CIC President Richard Ekman said, “Private colleges and universities offer community college students a proven pathway to successfully completing bachelor’s degrees. CIC’s member institutions are proud to contribute to the national priority of increasing degree completion rates for students who begin their academic careers at community colleges.”

The Ohio Consortium for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts will build on a solid foundation for community college transfer in the state of Ohio. As Project Director Winnie Gerhardt notes, “a strength of the transfer landscape in Ohio is the commitment of community colleges to helping their students transition to baccalaureate degrees and the many individual partnerships and articulation agreements they have forged with independent colleges and universities to achieve this goal.”

CIC and OFIC will draw on the existing relationships and mutual trust between participating institutions to design clear, consistent pathways to a baccalaureate degree at any of the institutions in the Consortium. The Consortium will address some of the most challenging barriers faced by community college students transferring to four-year colleges and universities, including a lack of comprehensive advising and credit loss in the transition between institutions. According to Ekman, “Losing credits during the transfer process can have severe consequences for students. Not only does taking extra classes cost more and add to student debt, but it can also increase students’ time-to-degree or even lower their chances of graduating at all.” Discipline-specific guided pathways that provide curricular templates for students to transfer as junior English, biology, or psychology majors will alleviate credit loss and reduce the confusion and anxiety surrounding many transfer decisions, so students can focus on their goal: graduating with a bachelor’s degree.

Participating CIC Members:

• Ashland University

• Baldwin Wallace University

• Bluffton University

• Capital University

• Defiance College

• Denison University

• Hiram College

• Lourdes University

• Malone University

• Muskingum University

• Ohio Dominican University

• Ohio Wesleyan University

• Tiffin University

• Ursuline College

Participating Community Colleges:

• Central Ohio Technical College

• Clark State College

• Columbus State Community College

• Cuyahoga Community College

• Lakeland Community College

• Lorain County Community College

• North Central State College

• Sinclair Community College

• Stark State College

• Terra State Community College

About CIC

The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) is an association of more than 750 nonprofit independent colleges and universities, state-based councils of independent colleges, and other higher education affiliates, that works to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance public understanding of independent higher education’s contributions to society. CIC is the major national organization that focuses on services to leaders of independent colleges and universities and state-based councils. CIC offers conferences, seminars, publications, and other programs and services that help institutions improve educational quality, administrative and financial performance, student outcomes, and institutional visibility. It conducts the largest annual conferences of college and university presidents and of chief academic officers in the United States. Founded in 1956, CIC is headquartered at One Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

About OFIC

Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges was founded in 1950 to conduct annual solicitations of companies and foundations to benefit private colleges in Ohio. OFIC today has 33 member institutions and 80,000 students. OFIC solicits financial support from corporate donors that believe strongly in higher education, connecting students with donors and empowering donors to design scholarships that have a direct impact on Ohio students, their local community, and their future employees.