Students who earn associate of arts or science degrees at Wyoming Community Colleges will automatically be admitted to the University of Wyoming starting this fall. UW and the Wyoming Community College Commission announced the new policy at Casper College today.
Mike Massie is a special assistant to the UW President. He says students who take only a year of community college before transferring to UW have a difficult transition. However associates degree-holders have already completed core courses and developed successful school routines, which will make them valuable additions to the UW student body. Massie says they’re essentially college juniors.
“In their first semester, they collectively earn a 2.96 grade point average,” Massie says. “And that’s compared to all juniors at the University of Wyoming at 3.03, so it’s essentially the same. In other words, after two years at a community college, they are just as successful as students who started here at the University of Wyoming.”
This new policy is the latest in a string of cooperative projects between the two school systems that has resulted in new education buildings and satellite classrooms across the state.
“Also we want to send that message to high school graduates, that regardless of where they decide to start, whether at a community college or at the University of Wyoming, they can go as far as they want,” Massie says.
Massie says the community college transfer students will only need to fill out an admissions application and provide some other information. The application fee will be waived, and U-W will counsel students on academic requirements and financial aid options.