0:04

A recent study by the Aspen Institute

0:06

says only a third of community college

0:08

students will actually transfer to a four-year

0:10

college and only half of those will

0:13

earn a BA within six years . I'm

0:15

UT Tyler Radio News Director , Mike Landis

0:17

. How about here in East Texas ? Ut

0:19

Tyler Radio connects with Professor of Education

0:22

Dr Colleen Swain for some answers . Do

0:24

those Aspen Institute numbers surprise you

0:26

?

0:28

First of all , thank you so much for having me

0:30

here , mike , so we can talk about this . It

0:33

doesn't surprise me , but

0:36

when we look at the Aspen report

0:38

, it

0:40

is a national report and

0:44

Texas has different laws

0:46

in place to better

0:49

support transfer students

0:51

, and so actually it looks

0:53

better in Texas Now

0:55

, not remarkably better . 45%

0:59

of students transfer and get a bachelor's

1:01

degree within six years

1:03

in the state of Texas . You

1:06

also have to recognize that the study

1:09

by Aspen was from

1:11

the 2015 cohort , because

1:13

they study six

1:16

years and so that always

1:18

requires time and

1:20

we kind of had a really big event

1:22

happen in the world between

1:25

2015 and now

1:27

.

1:27

Yes , we did .

1:28

And so that certainly impacts this

1:31

finding .

1:33

Now perhaps the most visible partnership

1:35

with the community college is the one that UT

1:37

Tyler has with TJC . President

1:40

Calhoun is very good friends with TJC President

1:42

Juan Mejia and the two have celebrated that

1:44

partnership many times publicly . Is

1:46

all of that working as well as they hoped

1:48

it would ?

1:50

Absolutely , and having

1:52

the experience of being at

1:55

different universities in Texas

1:58

and also within the nation

2:00

. The relationship

2:03

that UT Tyler has with

2:05

TJC , with Kilgore

2:07

College , with TVCC

2:10

is so unique

2:12

. It is very rare

2:14

to find universities

2:16

and community colleges

2:18

work so closely together

2:21

. Let me give you some examples

2:23

of some things that we do . First

2:26

of all , we're very close to

2:29

the people at the community colleges

2:31

and it's so beneficial when

2:33

you have the opportunity to just

2:35

pick up the phone and call

2:38

that colleague . At the other

2:40

institution , ut

2:43

Tyler , we host transfer summits

2:45

and that allows the faculty

2:47

members from different departments and

2:49

majors to come together from

2:52

TJC and UT Tyler

2:54

and the faculty work together on

2:56

degree maps so that

2:58

here's what you can take at TJC and

3:01

here's what will transfer and move smoothly

3:03

into our degree , and that

3:06

allows for loss of credits

3:08

. You don't want to take

3:10

courses that don't apply to your degree

3:12

program . You want to make sure that you

3:14

are taking classes , that

3:17

you feel assured that this

3:19

matters . This is going to make a difference

3:21

. So we work on those and then

3:23

we post those

3:25

pathways on our

3:28

website so that students

3:30

can look at those at all times and you can

3:32

pick your major and

3:34

look and see what is my major at TJC

3:37

and how does this apply If I'm going to transfer

3:39

?

3:40

The Patriot Promise has been a big part of

3:42

making all of that work . Explain to folks

3:44

who may not know what the Patriot Promise is , how

3:47

it works .

3:49

That is a fantastic scholarship

3:51

offered by

3:54

the UT system and our

3:56

Board of Regents to allow

3:58

students whose family

4:00

income is below a certain threshold

4:03

that the

4:05

difference between what is covered by

4:07

financial aid is

4:10

covered by Patriot Promise , and so it

4:12

allows students to

4:14

not worry about

4:17

tuition and

4:19

fees and have the

4:21

opportunity to earn

4:23

their degree .

4:24

I've discussed with Dr Meher the very aggressive

4:27

media campaign that TJC has had

4:29

in East Texas over the last several years

4:31

and while it obviously touts all that TJC

4:33

has to offer , I haven't seen anything specific

4:36

to the transfer opportunities from

4:38

TJC or UT Tyler . Is the program

4:40

relying on word of mouth or will there be

4:42

more of a public campaign to let that

4:44

be known ?

4:45

I think the way we handle the

4:47

transfer is this close

4:50

personal relationships with

4:52

students at each community college . Another

4:55

thing that we do at UT-Towler

4:57

is we go to the community colleges

5:00

every month Our advising

5:02

team , our admissions team and

5:04

we meet with students there . We

5:07

also have transfer days

5:09

and evenings , honestly

5:11

, where students can come from those community

5:13

colleges and tour and

5:15

visit UT-Towler so

5:17

that they feel comfortable here when

5:19

it's time to make that transition .

5:23

One of my grandsons is going to teach at State and he's

5:25

planning to get an associate's degree

5:27

there . I'd love to see him transfer to

5:29

UT-Towler for VA , but what

5:31

would be the draw ? Now , he's a Arkansas fan . Whether

5:34

he'll do that or not , I don't know . A girlfriend

5:37

might figure that , but that's

5:39

another personal story . What

5:42

would be the draw for someone to ? If

5:44

they were looking beyond UT-Towler , what

5:46

would you say to them that make them want to come

5:48

here ?

5:51

We have an abundance of programs

5:54

and resources

5:57

that we make clear to

5:59

our transfer students so

6:01

that they know that they

6:03

can be successful and earn

6:05

their degree . We know the

6:07

data clearly shows that

6:10

, yes , you can be very successful with an

6:12

associate's degree , but with

6:14

adding a bachelor's degree to

6:16

that , then your opportunities

6:19

expand into management , into

6:21

different levels in

6:23

your career . So it does benefit

6:25

you both career-wise , financially

6:28

, to come and finish your degree . But

6:30

at UT-Towler some of the things that we have for

6:33

you is , first of all , we have a required

6:35

orientation for transfer

6:38

students , and it's not that we talk to you about how

6:40

to be successful in college . You've already proven

6:42

that . But now it's . Let

6:45

us take the mystery out of how

6:48

things work at UT-Towler

6:50

. So you come in and

6:52

it is a smooth transition . I

6:56

have taught at very large

6:58

institutions and

7:00

one of the benefits of UT-Towler

7:03

is the smaller class , is

7:06

the personal connection , is

7:08

the fact that the faculty at

7:10

UT-Towler are embedded and

7:12

work closely with the workforce

7:15

so that networking , that connecting

7:18

that community that doesn't

7:20

always happen with larger institutions

7:23

. And then financially

7:25

, honestly , ut-towler is a

7:27

very economical place to

7:29

earn your degree .

7:32

Good to know . Would you like

7:34

to see the UT-Towler transfer programs

7:36

with community colleges in East Texas

7:38

? Where would you like to see

7:40

them this time next year ? What kind of goals are

7:43

there ?

7:46

Well , they're goals for our students to

7:48

continue to be more successful

7:50

. Now I will say

7:52

that UT-Towler does really well

7:54

with our transfer students . The

7:57

most recent cohort now remember , we

7:59

always look six years and

8:01

so the most recent cohort is 2018

8:03

data , and again , we still have that

8:05

pandemic . That's in the middle of all of that

8:08

, but 65%

8:12

of our transfer students who

8:15

came in in 2018

8:17

graduated

8:19

with their bachelor's degree within the

8:22

timeframe , and that is actually

8:24

third in the system behind

8:27

Austin and Dallas .

8:28

Wow , that's fantastic .

8:30

And so we are very successful , and

8:32

that has been the same since 2015

8:34

to 2018 . We're usually third or fourth

8:37

within the system

8:39

. When I look at

8:41

how our fall 23

8:44

transfer students did , when

8:47

I look back at how many

8:49

came back

8:51

this spring 85.9%

8:55

almost 86% of students

8:57

of our transfer students did . I

9:00

would love to see us at 90

9:02

at this time next year and

9:05

to continue , because we

9:07

know the value of

9:10

getting that degree . We

9:12

know it's hard because many

9:14

of our students , whether they're transfer

9:16

or come as native students , they're

9:20

working and so we recognize

9:23

how hard this is , but

9:25

we know it's worth it . It's a

9:27

short-term effort

9:30

that pays long-term

9:33

dividends , Long-term dividends yes .

9:35

On a related subject how does UT Tyler do

9:37

in the area of retention and graduation

9:39

rates ? Can we do better ? Are we doing great

9:42

? Where are we ?

9:44

As I mentioned earlier , I think in terms of

9:47

our retention and

9:49

graduation rates , they

9:51

are in the 70s to

9:53

80s . Graduation

9:56

rates are a little lower . Now I will say

9:58

that our students graduate

10:02

. It may not even be within the six years

10:04

, but what we find is our transfer

10:06

students in particular are persistent

10:09

and they may only take one or two

10:11

classes , and so it takes them a longer

10:13

time , but they finish their

10:16

degrees , and so if you look at just

10:18

data on did they finish , regardless

10:21

of time , we're fantastic

10:23

. Matter of fact , we're best in the system , but

10:27

when we

10:29

, you know , I would like

10:31

us to really be

10:34

at 80s , 90s

10:36

percent . I want the best

10:38

for our students , I want the best for our

10:40

community , and when

10:42

East Texans have those

10:45

degrees that allow them to expand

10:47

opportunities , our economy

10:50

also does better .

10:52

Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio connects

10:54

with University Professor of Education , Dr

10:56

Colleen Swain .