Minot State reaches out to students in Washington

An agreement put in place today (Sept. 23) makes it easier for community and technical college students from the state of Washington to transfer to Minot State University to finish their bachelor’s degrees.

Philip Parnell, director of articulation and transfer for the North Dakota University System, along with Dr. Thomas Eckert, Ed.D., president of Bellingham Technical College, signed the articulation agreement this morning in Bellingham, Wash..

"Studies indicate that between 30,000 and 40,000 students graduate every year from community and technical colleges in Washington, but are unable to get into a four-year university in their own state," said Trisha Nelson, online academic degree advisor at Minot State. "Through this agreement, Minot State is reaching out to them, making it much easier to continue towards a higher degree."

It is the goal of MSU Online to become the educational provider of choice for the community college graduates in Washington state. Through this formal articulation agreement, MSU is proactively providing those students opportunities to consider higher degree programs in the business and information technology areas.

According to Parnell, the NDUS, Minot State University and higher education institutions in Washington have been working since 2005 to agree on an easy way to help students from two-year colleges better transition to four-year universities to continue their education. The talks started after a Washington agency contacted the NDUS to inform them of the shortage in openings for community college early-childhood-education majors in Washington universities.

Today’s agreement signed with Bellingham allows students from BTC with an AAS or AAST degree the opportunity to enter one of Minot State’s BAS degree programs and earn a minimum cumulative total of 42 semester hours from a four-year institution rather than the customary 60 semester hours required to be earned.

09/23/08

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