Parenting Your College Student Through the Transfer Process – Making It Happen
Once your college student has made a decision to transfer to another college, there are some important tasks to be done.
Gather lots of information about potential colleges and/or programs.
Your student may know exactly where he wants to transfer, or he may be looking for the appropriate school. The more information he can gather, the more smoothly the process will go. One advantage that your student now has is the knowledge he has gained through the time he has spent at his current school. As he thinks about the reasons for transferring, he will think of questions he wants to be sure that he asks at the new school. What are his priorities? What wasn’t working (if anything) at the current school? Encourage him to take time to look carefully at the new institution. Study the website. Visit the school. Stay overnight on campus if possible. Talk to current students. Meet with admissions or advising personnel at the new school. Ask lots of questions.
Ask specific questions about the transfer process.
Encourage your student not only to consider the school and its programs, but also to ask about the transfer process itself. What are application deadlines? Financial aid deadlines and financial aid availability for transfer students? What courses will transfer? Is there a minimum GPA requirement? When will your student know what courses will transfer? Is there a maximum number of credits that can be transferred? What courses will be required at the new school?
Understand that the process takes time and is complex.
Much like the process of applying to college in the first place, the transfer process requires several important pieces of information to all come together. The admissions office will need the application, financial aid forms, and the student’s current transcript.
Once your student applies and is accepted, someone at the college will look at each course on the transcript to decide whether it will transfer. There is probably a minimum grade requirement for a course to transfer. Courses are evaluated for compatibility with the courses offered by the accepting institution. Some schools are very generous in their acceptance of credits from other institutions, and some are more restrictive. This is often a complex process which involves finding course descriptions and requirements from the sending institution. Allow the college time to complete the process carefully. Although your student may be anxious to get started choosing her classes at the new school, she may need to be patient. It will be to your student’s benefit to give the college time to gather all the necessary information.
Start early, pay attention to deadlines, and keep good records.
Because the process takes time, the earlier your student can get the process started, the less stressful it will be. Pay close attention to deadlines – especially for financial aid. Encourage your student to keep careful records of what has been sent, dates of phone conversations, and names of people with whom she has spoken. This is especially helpful if she needs to follow up on any conversations. She should also follow up on transcript requests to make sure the new institution has received all necessary information.
Don’t burn bridges at your student’s current institution.
Even though your student expects to transfer, perhaps at the end of the current term, there are some important things for him to consider as he finishes up. The new institution will need a final transcript with grades. He should keep his studying going. Although everything will hopefully go smoothly with the transfer, circumstances can always change. Your student should register for classes for the next semester, go ahead with housing selection, prepare for continuing the next semester. It is relatively simple to cancel classes or housing reservations when the transfer is finalized. It may be difficult to get appropriate classes or housing if your student should decide to stay.
