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Transferring between colleges has historically been a complex, frustrating process, often involving lost credits, financial setbacks and a lot of uncertainty for students. Recognizing these challenges, the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education (CHE) has rolled up its sleeves to smooth the transfer journey for students statewide. Through innovative partnerships, data-driven tools and support programs for faculty, staff and students, the CHE is making sure students can move from technical and community colleges to baccalaureate-granting colleges and universities—and beyond—with fewer bumps along the way.
The CHE knows successful transfer strategies require teamwork and collaboration. That’s why it formed the Statewide Transfer Task Force—a coalition of educators, administrators and policymakers representing both public and private institutions. Their mission: identify the main pain points in the transfer process and recommend practical solutions.
This effort evolved into the Transfer Excellence Council, which promotes collaboration between South Carolina’s public universities, technical colleges and independent institutions. Regular meetings ensure all institutional members stay on the same page, working together to align transfer policies and improve communication with students about their options.
Through these partnerships, the CHE isn’t just creating policies in a vacuum—it’s listening to what schools and students need, promoting dialogue and ensuring that faculty, staff and other institutional and community stakeholders are engaged. One of the key initiatives of the Transfer Excellence Council is the annual Transfer Excellence Convening.
Annual Statewide Convening Turns Strategy Into Action
One of the biggest challenges in streamlining the transfer process is ensuring everyone—faculty, administrators and academic advisers—works together effectively. The Transfer Excellence Convenings help break down institutional silos, creating a space for open dialogue and shared problem-solving. Candance Howell from Horry-Georgetown Technical College highlighted the 2024 convening as a place where “everybody is rolling up their sleeves and doing the work.”
These events are more than just meetings—each is a dynamic hub where educators, administrators, community stakeholders and policymakers from across the state exchange ideas, solve problems and create innovative solutions for transfer students. They focus on developing strategies to ensure students can move seamlessly between schools without losing valuable credits or falling behind in their academic progress.
Transfer Excellence Convening 2024 Video Recap
The agenda at each Transfer Excellence Convening is packed with sessions designed to tackle the key pain points in the transfer system and celebrate innovation. Here are just a few of the themes represented:
- The Bigger Picture: Transfer barriers span beyond the colleges and universities, so including community stakeholder voices, like the S.C. Education Oversight Committee (EOC) and workforce agencies, is imperative to more holistically supporting transfer student success across the state. The EOC provided an insightful presentation to help participants understand the connections between the K-12 and higher education realms for transfer. Learning loss, math test scores and dual enrollment were highlights throughout the presentation.
- Transfer Council Updates: Amplification of the Transfer Excellence Council work takes place at every Transfer Excellence Convening to allow broader participation across the state and inform all stakeholders of priorities and progress. Not only is an update provided, but the Transfer Excellence Council members are acknowledged and celebrated for their tireless efforts in making South Carolina the leading state in transfer student success. These updates and member celebrations create excitement and re-energize stakeholders across the state.
- Successful Transfer Partnerships: Ensuring courses taken at technical and community colleges are easily accepted by baccalaureate-granting colleges and universities is a major focus. Faculty and administrators work together to make courses not just transferrable but applicable to degrees across institutions, making it easier for students to transfer without losing credits or time to graduation. This work was elevated by Winthrop University and York Technical College through their partnership that advances meta-majors.
- Highlighting Innovation: Strong partnerships between institutions exist across the state; however, fostering and building on those partnerships is key for ongoing transfer innovation. Each Transfer Excellence Convening highlights different partnerships across the state and details how those partnerships formed and continue to be sustained.
- Data-Informed Strategies: Participants also dive into data from the CHE’s Transfer Outcomes Dashboard and the Community College Research Center, using the numbers to identify trends and gaps in the transfer system. This data-driven approach ensures that the policies developed during these events reflect the real-world needs of students.
Convening Innovation Spotlight: Ithaka S+R Transfer Explorer Project
The convening provided an opportunity to share an update on the collaboration between South Carolina colleges and universities and Ithaka S+R to design and launch Transfer Explorer, a new national, nonprofit credit mobility website. As announced in early 2024, South Carolina is one of four states collaborating with Ithaka on this project. Transfer Explorer lets students and those who support them explore how courses they’ve taken in the past or may take in the future will transfer and count toward earning a college degree. The website is inspired by the City University of New York’s Transfer Explorer, which has provided access and transparency for more than 220,000 users to explore the over 1.6 million credit transfer rules for the CUNY system’s 20 undergraduate colleges.
During the convening, Ithaka S+R provided a demo of the Transfer Explorer website under development, highlighting the contributions of participating South Carolina colleges and universities. A panel discussion with leaders from three participating schools, Coastal Carolina University, Horry-Georgetown Technical College and the University of South Carolina, gave insight into the experiences of institutions working on the project to date.
South Carolina schools participating in Transfer Explorer have worked with Ithaka S+R and the nonprofit DXtera Institute to establish automated feeds of catalog information, course and prior learning experience transfer rules, and degree requirements into Transfer Explorer. This allows users to explore authoritative and up-to-date information to plan their educational journey. Students and staff have also participated in user experience testing and feedback sessions, to support the JSTOR Labs development team in designing the website.
The convening provided an opportunity for Ithaka S+R to hear directly from South Carolina transfer champions about what features and functions Transfer Explorer can provide to alleviate pain points in the transfer process. The website will launch in late 2024, featuring data from an inaugural set of colleges and universities, including three South Carolina institutions: Lander University, Aiken Technical College and Coastal Carolina University. Transfer Explorer will expand in 2025 to include additional institutions from South Carolina and other participating states.
A Brighter Future for Transfer Students in South Carolina
The Transfer Excellence Convenings are a cornerstone of South Carolina’s effort to make the transfer process smoother, more efficient and more student friendly. By bringing together the brightest minds in higher education, the CHE is fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation that ensures transfer students thrive.
As South Carolina continues to refine its transfer policies and programs, the work done at these convenings will play a vital role in shaping the future of higher education in the state. Whether you’re a student planning your next academic move or an educator working behind the scenes, the convenings offer hope and practical solutions for a more connected, seamless transfer system.
The takeaway is clear: At these convenings, South Carolina isn’t just talking about change—it’s making it happen.
