The presidents of Mercer County Community College and The College of New Jersey signed an articulation agreement to streamline access to four-year degrees for graduates of MCCC last week at a ceremony held on TCNJ’s campus.
MCCC President Deborah Preston and TCNJ President Kathryn Foster gathered with higher education faculty and staff, foundation board members, trustees and community members for a celebratory signing event formalizing a new agreement that creates a process for MCCC graduates to seamlessly transfer to TCNJ’s four-year bachelor’s degree programs.
Beginning in the fall of 2023, MCCC associate degree graduates in good academic standing who’ve maintained the required GPA and who’ve satisfactorily completed the application for admission will automatically be granted admission to TCNJ.
Both presidents spoke to the importance of the new agreement.
“The articulation agreement that we sign today provides the opportunity to transform the lives of Mercer County residents,” Foster said. “The quality education at Mercer County Community College prepares students well for TCNJ … and Mercer students will now be able to transfer seamlessly to this high-quality four-year college.”
Preston, who has been president of Mercer County Community College since July, praised the efforts of faculty and staff who made the agreement come to fruition.
Mercer County Community College and TCNJ have worked together in the past and have many common goals.
“We share a passion for the same ideals,” Foster added. “We share a passion for ensuring student success, for cultivating a love of learning, for educational experiences and engaged education, and we share a passion for empowering our students to sustain and enhance their communities locally and beyond.”
During the summer of 2022, Robert Schreyer, MCCC’s vice president of academic affairs, and Jeffrey Osborn, provost and vice president for academic affairs at TCNJ, initiated discussions about expanding the relationship between the colleges.
“Dr. Osborn and I, our academic leaders and enrollment services team had a brainstorming session of outstanding ideas at the West Windsor campus last summer, and coming out on the other side of that is this agreement,” Schreyer remarked. “I personally can’t take credit. The deans and faculty really embraced this and went through great detail to make it happen.”
According to Lisa Angeloni, vice president of enrollment at TCNJ, a new agreement is likely to dovetail what was accomplished at the ceremony.
“To further our institutions’ commitment to student success and to make the transition from associate degree to bachelor’s degree even more streamlined for MCCC students, we are now in discussions about housing MCCC students at TCNJ,” Angeloni stated. “I believe this would contribute significantly to student success and allow for the full college experience.”
