However, a report by the Wyoming Community College Commission shows students who transfer from Wyoming community colleges are better prepared for college the more credit hours they transfer with and achieve a higher GPA than students who begin college for the first time at UW.
Chad Baldwin, UW director of institutional communications, said the university recognizes the role community colleges play in preparing students for college.
“Community college graduates are accepted at UW as long as they have at least a B average because past statistics show they do well here,” Baldwin said.
For the fall 2009 semester, the WCCC report showed students who transferred from community colleges had GPAs that went up with the more credit hours they transferred. For Wyoming community colleges, students who transferred with between zero and 30 credit hours had an average GPA of 2.23, while students who transferred with 90 credit hours or more had an average GPA of 3.33.
According to a report by the UW Office of Institutional Analysis, 57 percent of fall 2010 enrolled students came from Wyoming community colleges. The report also showed that, of the university’s total transfer students, 60 percent of in-state community college transfer students had associates’ degrees compared to the 25 percent of out-of-state community college transfer students.
Baldwin said the university works closely with Wyoming community colleges to align programs of study to ensure students can transfer as many credits as possible. He also said some students, such as those who require remedial studies, do much better when they begin their college career at community colleges.
“We want students to have a seamless transition from community colleges to UW,” Baldwin said. “The relationship [between community colleges and UW] goes back many years and, in recent years, it has just gotten stronger.”
Baldwin said the community colleges are a great place for students to start. He also noted the recent change in UW’s acceptance standards reflect UW’s determination to produce successful students. The new standards will require high school graduates take more classes and have higher GPAs and ACT scores, 3.0 and 21 respectively.
However, Baldwin said, students who have at least a 2.5 GPA and an ACT score of 20 will be accepted on the condition that they participate in UW’s synergy program.
“The realignment of admission requirements don’t keep people from coming to UW, they simply pinpoint those students that will need additional help,” Baldwin said.