It took Sandy Haislet a year of hard work at her local community college before she decided she really wanted to pursue a bachelor’s degree at a larger school.
“It was terrific to get a year under my belt, and I was really riding high about my new decisions,” said Haislet, 20, of Schaumburg, who tried to transfer to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from Harper Community College in Palatine.
But Haislet’s plan failed to receive a passing grade. The U. of I. said it wouldn’t accept all of Haislet’s credits and wanted her to enroll as a freshman, effectively wiping out a year of courses she had toiled to pass with A’s and B’s.
“That was a real downer because I was being penalized for putting in a year’s worth of hard work. So I just decided to stay put,” said Haislet, who is working toward her associate’s degree at Harper.
Many of the nearly 30,000 students annually who transfer from one state school to another come up against similar problems. But starting in 1998, under a new set of rules approved by the Illinois Community College Board, incoming freshmen at the state’s 49 community colleges will be able to transfer to four-year schools without losing valuable course credits.
The rules are designed to establish a set curriculum, covering up to 41 hours of the basics in communications, math, science, humanities and social sciences. That means a student passing a basic English course at the College of Lake County, for example, and decides to transfer to one the state’s 12 public universities could do so without losing credit for the class.
According to top education officials in Illinois, the move will allow students more access to major universities, will enhance the image of community colleges-sometimes maligned as second-rate schools-and holds promise to bolster sagging enrollments at those institutions.
In addition, the rules stand to eliminate the need for individual academic agreements, struck between community colleges and universities, that in the past have functioned to achieve the same goals.
Melissa Choi, 18, of Mt. Prospect, for example, enrolled this year as a freshman at Harper College because her credits will transfer under an agreement with Northern Illinois University in De Kalb. When it takes effect, the statewide plan will save freshmen the trouble of having to worry about whether their school has any such agreements.
“I’d be all for it,” Choi said. “I’m here because I wanted to save some money.”
In many cases, community college tuition is at bargain basement prices of under $500 for 12 hours. At some of Illinois’ major schools, the same academic load can cost nearly $1,400.
Harry L. Crisp, president of the Community College Board, which approved the plan last week in conjunction with the Illinois Board of Higher Education, added that it will ease the difficulty academic advisers face in shaping student course loads.
When put in place, Illinois will be one of the few states, including Arizona, California, Missouri and Virginia, that have college transfer agreements.
Officials at Illinois’ biggest university said the state’s policy won’t alter the school’s tough academic standards.
“It will make it much easier for students who want to come to Illinois get on track to get here. They’ll still be held to our standards,” said Carol Menaker, associate chancellor at the U. of I.
Some private schools aren’t sold on the idea just yet because they’re not convinced community colleges meet their rigid standards.
Private schools can opt out of the state’s plan, and some probably will, officials said.
“It wouldn’t work for us,” said Paul Johnson, registrar at Wheaton College, a religious school.
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“We still need to evaluate the courses by our standards here,” he said, adding that the school does have an agreement with the College of DuPage to accept some courses.
Those who helped shape the state’s plan said it was formed by a panel of 123 teachers and administrators from the public universities, 40 community colleges and 14 private colleges and universities. It’s been in the formative stages during the past two years.
Next year, each public college and university is expected to begin identifying courses scheduled to be brought into compliance with the state’s rules.
A computerized database for the courses is to be complete in 1997, and universities and colleges are to print the new policy in their catalogs by 1998.
Some concerns have been raised about the state’s curriculum plan and how it affects teachers. Hazel Loucks, higher education director for the Illinois Education Association, questioned whether the core classes are too narrow and don’t allow instructors much room for creativity.
Others have raised concerns the rules will hamper a student’s interest in important electives.
Those concerns are certain to be ironed out by the time the state’s guidelines go into effect, members of the planning panel said. It’s too important to community colleges not to implement, they added.
Enrollment at Illinois community colleges has been erratic over the last 10 years, and many think the new rules will give the schools a jolt of new life.
Gayle Saunders, director of counseling and career services at Elgin Community College, said she anticipates the rules could lead to additional students across the state, especially since students will know they can complete courses, at lower cost, before going on to a four-year school.
“It takes the fear out of the undecided students,” Saunders said. “It certainly is a strong selling point.”
Some community colleges believe the new rules will put them on par with some of the state’s most prestigious public universities.
“I have always known our college was on the same level with any school in the state, and it’s important for other schools, with tough standards, to know the same thing,” said Ray LeFevour, president of Wright Community College in Chicago.
“In the end, though, these rules only mean uniformity,” he said. “It’s still up to the students to get the work done and seek out those colleges that will prepare them.”