By Hannah Weehunt/reporter
TCC has transfer centers located on each campus designed to ease the process of moving to a four-year school.
The centers connect TCC students to various universities and help them plan their next step, said academic adviser Linda Specks, liaison to the NE transfer center.
The TCC transfer centers have trained staff members from area universities that help students with the entire transfer process.
From helping students decide what degree they want to helping them get accepted into the university of their choice, staff members at the centers assist students along the way, Specks said.
Many four-year universities visit TCC campuses. They set up an office inside the transfer center and set up booths around the campuses for easy access to students, Specks said. The colleges that visit most often include the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of North Texas, Texas Woman’s University, Texas Wesleyan University and Texas Tech University, Speck said.
“We have reps from local colleges come multiple times a month,” she said, “and some local colleges come once a month.”
Using the transfer centers provides many benefits, Specks said.
One benefit is the convenient location. Students don’t have to drive to multiple campuses to see what each university is like, Speck said. Students can just walk out of their classes and talk to people from other colleges.
“It’s important to have reps from the other colleges come because they have the most current information about their universities,” she said.
The transfer centers also put on events during the semesters. One of these events is College Day, which brings many colleges at once and allows students to check each of them out, said senior office assistant Robin Carlisle, liaison to the NW transfer center.
“The biggest advantage that students have in attending College Day is that they get to talk to reps from universities from all over the country,” she said. “Students normally would not be able to talk to colleges from New York, and College Day helps make that possible.”
Because of the transfer centers, students are not just relying on brochures or websites to give them information. They are in close contact with a person from a four-year university who can answer specific questions and give them direct and up-to-date information, Speck said.
Another benefit is that the transfer center works with students through the whole transferring process, Speck said.
“After a student has selected a college, we help them apply to it,” she said. “We help them fill out the application and gather any letters of recommendation they need.”
The centers also help students with gathering transcripts from TCC and any other colleges they may have attended, Speck said.
Also, they have information about deadlines and help students submit everything in a timely manner.
One of the centers’ main goals is to help students cope with the stress of transferring, Speck said, and helping students meet deadlines is a big stress reliever.
“The transfer centers have been a big help to me in planning my next step,” said NE student Bailey Sanders. “I’m not sure where I want to go yet, and having access to information and people from a lot of different colleges has been a huge help in figuring out what to do next.”
