Act 629 - Summary Reports on Institutional Effectiveness
Fiscal Year 1999 - 2000

Student Transfer and Performance Report - Fall 1999

Assessment information can strengthen the quality of college transfer courses and better prepare students for the demands of upper division undergraduate studies. The University of South Carolina Regional Campuses participate in a cooperative effort to support the evaluation of student transfers between the regional campuses and public senior institutions in South Carolina. The public senior institutions provide data biennially on acceptance rates and academic performance for first-time regional campus transfer students. The data provided by the senior institutions are "snapshots" of student academic performance in the fall of each academic year. Each senior institution completes one copy of a form designed by the Commission on Higher Education staff in consultation with representatives from the S.C. State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education and USC Regional Campuses for each two-year campus that students transferred from. Grade point averages represent that for Fall 1999, and are not cumulative GPAs.

For the Fall 1999 term, 328 regional campus student transfers were identified by the senior institutions as being enrolled in baccalaureate programs. Table 1 shows the weighted average GPAs of all students that transferred from two-year institutions compared with the weighted average GPAs of students who began their academic careers at any public senior institution in South Carolina. Transfer students from USC Regional Campuses have a weighted average that is .191 lower than the weighted average of all native students in South Carolina senior institutions during Fall 1999. Therefore, when compared with native students, USC regional campus transfers earned, as a whole, slightly lower GPAs in Fall 1999.

Individual details by senior institution transferred to can be viewed by clicking on the name of the regional campus. On the accompanying detail charts, a positive number in "Difference in GPA" means that students who started college at the senior institution had a higher average weighted GPA in Fall 1999 than students who transferred from USC regional campuses to that institution. A negative number in "Difference in GPA" means that students who transferred from a regional campus had a higher weighted average GPA in Fall 1999 than students who began their careers at the senior institution.

The weighted average GPA of transfer students from USC Beaufort and USC Sumter were slightly higher than the weighted average of all native students in South Carolina senior institutions during Fall 1999.

Table 1: Two-Year Transfers to All Public Senior Institutions - Fall 1999

Two-Year Institution Transferred From:	Two-Year College Transfer Students Fall Term 1999		All Public Senior Institutions First-time Native Students Fall Term 1999
	Number	G.P.A.*	Number	G.P.A.*
USC Beaufort	64	2.775	39,702	2.728
USC Lancaster	77	2.314
USC Salkehatchie	43	2.271
USC Sumter	116	2.730
USC Union	28	2.211
TOTAL	328	2.537

Students who transferred from the regional campuses and attended a South Carolina senior institution in Fall 1999 were predominately white (81% white, 19% non-white) and female (60% female, 40% male).

Table 2 shows a breakdown of student transfers by race, sex and the institution from which the student transferred.

Table 2: Transfer Population by Sex, Gender and the Institution Transferred From

For the Fall 1999 first-time transfer population, fifty-nine percent of students from USC two-year institutions who applied to South Carolina senior institutions were accepted. Eighty-five percent of those accepted were enrolled at the senior institution in Fall 1999. Table 6 lists the total number of applications, acceptances, and enrollments for each USC two-year institution. Individual details by senior institution transferred to can be viewed by clicking on the name of the regional campus. It should be noted that the data collected on applications and acceptances do not exclude students being counted multiple times who made application or were accepted to more than one senior institution. This data is interesting but should not be used in policy decisions. The implementation of the regulations and procedures for transfer in public two-year and public four-year institutions in South Carolina as mandated by Act 137 of 1995, which established the statewide articulation of seventy-two courses, puts into question the necessity for the collection of this data on applications and acceptances.

Students who move from one USC campus to another are not considered to be transfer students. Therefore, no transfer application information is available for students moving within the USC system.

Students who wish to change from one of the Regional Campuses to USC Columbia initiate movement efforts by going to their (regional) campus' records office and completing a change-of- school/campus/major form. It is at this time that eligibility to change campuses is determined. At least two important factors influence the determination of eligibility:

1. Students who were originally admitted in a pre-baccalaureate (baccalaureate intended) status, and who were eligible to enroll at Columbia but chose to enroll at a Regional Campus, may change campuses upon meeting the requirements of the college or school at Columbia from which a four-year degree is sought. There are currently 12 colleges and one school at Columbia offering baccalaureate degrees.
2. Students who were admitted in other degree-seeking categories besides pre-baccalaureate at a Regional Campus, must earn a GPA of 2.0 on a minimum of 30 semester hours at that campus in order to move to Columbia.
   

Table 3: Application, Acceptance and Enrollments From USC Two-Year Campuses

Transferring From:	Total Transfer Applications to Senior Institutions	Total # of Students Accepted at Senior Institutions	Total # of Students Rejected at Senior Institutions	# Student Applications Incomplete at Senior Institutions	Total # of Transfer Students Enrolled at Senior Institutions	% Applied who Enrolled at Senior Institutions	% Accepted who Enrolled at Senior Institutions
USC Beaufort	30	17	1	12	15	50	88
USC Lancaster	46	36	2	8	30	65	83
USC Salkehatchie	17	11	2	5	9	53	82
USC Sumter	31	21	1	9	17	55	81
USC Union	12	9	0	3	9	75	100
Total	136	94	6	37	80	59	85