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Topic: Credit mobility

Blog Post
July 6, 2023

CUNY and Ithaka S+R Launch New Functionality in CUNY Transfer Explorer

Enhancements to CUNY Transfer Explorer (CUNY T-Rex) empower students to explore paths to degree completion with transparent and accessible information

In January 2023, the ACT team and CUNY introduced several new features on CUNY T-Rex, which included a refreshed homepage, a student portal for CUNY students to access their transcript and explore how their courses are applied across CUNY colleges, and functionality to let users explore how course credits (from both CUNY and non-CUNY institutions) and CPL apply at various CUNY colleges and to major and minor requirements. Today, we are pleased to announce the launch of additional, new features…
Past Event
November 9, 2023

Increasing Adult Learner Enrollment and Resolving Stranded Credits

“Stranded credits” are credits that students have earned but can’t access because their former institution is holding their transcript as collateral for an unpaid balance to the institution. Ninety-five percent of institutions withhold transcripts when students have a balance, and Ithaka S+R estimates that 6.6 million students nationally have stranded credits. Like student loan debt, stranded credits are inequitably distributed: institutions with higher shares of students of color and Pell-eligible students are estimated to have more former students…
Past Event
July 12, 2023

NISTS Award Winner Spotlight

AACRAO Technology & Transfer Virtual Summit

Join a AACRAO Technology and Transfer Virtual Summit session honoring this year’s Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion-Rising Star Award winners, including Ithaka S+R’s Emily Tichenor. Learn about their journeys as transfer agents, connectors, and advocates, how they’ve overcome challenges to find success, and their top tips and strategies for influencing change. Both seasoned professionals and newcomers to the transfer community will walk away with valuable insights and practical takeaways for creating and sustaining transfer-focused policies, programs, and supports. This…
Past Event
August 7, 2023

Bans, Compacts, and Collections… Oh My! State Approaches to Addressing Stranded Credits

Institutions and states are facing increasing pressures to stop the practice of withholding student transcripts for failure to pay balances in full. In fact, over half of states have enacted or considered policies on this issue over the past several years. The Department of Education and the CFPB have also weighed in with guidance and new policies. In this session at the 2023 SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference, leaders from three states that have taken unique approaches to addressing…
Past Event
May 9, 2023

Stanford Humanists At Large Fellows Visit Ithaka S+R

On May 9 at 1:00 – 4:00 pm ET, fellows from Stanford University’s Humanists at Large (HAL) program will visit the ITHAKA office to learn more about Ithaka S+R’s work and meet staff. The visit will open with a panel discussion with PhD-holding S+R staff Dylan Ruediger, James Ward, and Colette Johnson, moderated by Daniel Braun to introduce audience members to the organization and the career paths of staff. In the afternoon, Daniel Braun will lead a workshop offering…
Past Event
July 11, 2023

CUNY Transfer Explorer

A Cross-Organizational Effort to Promote Credit Transparency

In May 2020, the Articulation of Credit Transfer (ACT) team, a collaboration between Ithaka S+R and the City University of New York (CUNY), introduced CUNY Transfer Explorer, an online, public tool which allows anyone to see how courses at one college are treated at any other college in the CUNY system upon transfer. At a presentation at AACRAO’s Technology and Virtual Summit on July 11 at 4 pm ET, CUNY Lehman’s Juan Villalona, ITHAKA’s Maddie Danks and Jessica…
Past Event
March 21, 2023

“Alt-Ac” Careers for Humanities PhDs

On Tuesday, March 21 from 1:00 – 2:00 pm ET, Steve Pokornowski and Kurtis Tanaka will participate in a roundtable discussion hosted by the University of Michigan Library on “alt-ac” careers for humanities PhDs. The panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges of pursuing careers off of the tenure track and the changing professional landscape of academia, reflecting on their own experiences. Speakers include Hannah Alpert-Abrams, Sara Cohen, Patricia Hswe, Stephanie Rosen, Katina Rogers, and Jim McGrath. Learn more about…
Past Event
March 22, 2023

Texas Student Success Program Inventory Launch

Ithaka S+R was commissioned by the Student Success Division of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to develop the Texas Student Success Program Inventory, an online resource that organizes information about student success programs at Texas institutions on an easy-to-use, searchable platform. On March 22, 2023 at 1:00 pm CST/2:00 pm EST, the THECB and Ithaka S+R will host a webinar to introduce users to this new resource. In this webinar, Ithaka S+R will provide some background…
Past Event
March 29, 2023

Navigating Non-Linear Career Paths

On March 29 at 12 pm PT, Ithaka S+R Director of Strategy and Operations Colette Johnson will speak on an installment of the Versatile PhD’s Career Pathways series, on “Navigating Non-Linear Career Paths.” The virtual event will feature discussion on how professionals outside of the academy create and maintain networks, move between roles and industries, and tolerate the uncertainty that accompanies all of the above, offering advice for PhDs interested in alternative career paths. Learn more and register for…
Blog Post
February 16, 2023

Opening the Black Box of Credit Transfer to Everyone

$4.4 Million in New Grants to Enhance and Expand "Transfer Explorer" within CUNY and Beyond

Losing credits when transferring to a new institution is a major barrier preventing many college students from earning a degree. Providing better information about how credits transfer, and providing that information early enough to enable students and advisors to plan, are crucial steps to tearing down that barrier. With an additional $4.4 million in philanthropic funding, the groundbreaking Transfer Explorer is poised to take those steps, at scale.
Past Event
February 1, 2023

Using A University-Wide Initiative to Fuel Transfer Reforms

Transfer Explorer At CUNY

On February 1 from 4:10 – 5:00 pm ET, Pooja Patel will participate in a National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) annual conference session on “Using a university-wide initiative to fuel transfer reforms.” This session provides an overview of the continued development of Transfer Explorer, a tool introduced at the 2022 NISTS conference that aims to reduce loss of transfer credit, and its adoption at the City University of New York (CUNY) as part…
Past Event
April 27, 2023

Holistic Credit Mobility: Centering Learning in Credential Completion

Session at the WICHE Academic Leadership Forum

At the 2023 Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Academic Leadership Forum, Martin Kurzweil and Chau-Fang Lin will present on holistic credit mobility and the framework for centering learning in credential completion, sharing findings from an Ithaka S+R issue brief funded by the Ascendium Education Group. The session is schedule for Thursday, April 27 at 11:15 – 12:15 pm.
Past Event
February 22, 2023

Holistic Credit Mobility

An Innovative Framework to Foster Credit and Learning Mobility

On Wednesday, February 22 from 2:50 – 3:40 pm PST at the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students Conference, Sarah Pingel will present on Ithaka S+R’s holistic credit mobility project with Ascendium Education Group’s Carolynn Lee. The session will define the concept of holistic credit mobility and propose a framework to understand how higher education can be responsive to the needs of today’s mobile students. The session will include worked examples that allow participants to…
Past Event
March 7, 2023

Shark Tank: Edu Edition

SXSW 2023 Session

At SXSW EDU 2023, Ithaka S+R’s Catharine Bond Hill, the Chronical of Higher Education’s Goldie Blumenstyk, and Guild Education’s Paul Freedman will serve as “sharks” in the eighth annual pitch-a-thon hosted by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The judges will weight in on transformative ideas from contestants representing new companies, nonprofits, and big dreamers from improving the college experience. The session is scheduled to take place on March 7, 2023 at 4:00 – 5:00 pm CT at the Austin…
Blog Post
November 30, 2022

Supporting Mobile Students to Credential Completion through Holistic Credit Mobility

People learn in more places than ever before—earning credits from high school or dual enrollment courses, picking up certifications for job advancement, gaining experience through the military, and more. While many colleges, universities, and employers have begun translating this accumulated learning into transcriptable credits, students frequently find that institutions will not count their previously accumulated credits.
Issue Brief
November 16, 2022

Holistic Credit Mobility

Centering Learning in Credential Completion

In this issue brief, we introduce holistic credit mobility as a framework for making sense of contemporary student mobility and devising solutions that center the success of mobile students with multiple forms and sources of validated learning. In the sections that follow, we define holistic credit mobility and highlight strategies to support its effective deployment throughout postsecondary institutions and systems.
Past Event
October 18, 2022

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: An Exploration of Articulation of Credit Transfer (ACT)

Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference

Martin Kurzweil and Lexa Logue will participate in a panel with the Hecksher Foundation's Peter Sloan and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation's Miss. Cass Conrad focusing on new ways the Articulation of Credit Transfer project is helping students gain their credentials. The panel will discuss a transparent, public facing resource developed within The City University of New York system. The panel is scheduled to take place on October 18 at 1:45 - 3:00 pm CT. …
Blog Post
March 17, 2022

Evaluating the Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts Initiative

Strengthening transfer pathways between two-year and independent not-for-profit four-year institutions is one under-utilized way to increase transfer and bachelor’s degree completion. Independent colleges offer high graduation rates, flexible degree options, and personalized supports that can assist students looking to complete a four-year degree. Increasing transfer to these institutions at scale can be accomplished through state- or consortium-wide pathways that link all community colleges in a state to a critical number of independent four-year institutions.  The…
Research Report
March 17, 2022

Playbook for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts

How to Design and Implement Statewide Pathways from Community Colleges to Independent Colleges

Bachelor’s degree attainment for community college transfer students is one underutilized but essential pathway for reducing equity gaps in higher education. One way to achieve this at scale is through state-level initiatives dedicated to supporting transfer from community colleges to not-for-profit independent colleges. The Teagle Foundation and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations’ Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts initiative aims to create such pathways in 20 states in the next five years. This playbook draws on the experience of grantees…
Blog Post
February 2, 2022

Bringing Credit Transfer into Focus

New Report on the Articulation of Transfer Credit at CUNY Project

When a student transfers from one college to another, the receiving college has to decide how to treat the credits that the student earned at prior institutions. While the specific process varies from place to place, in general, the institution has to make two interrelated decisions: (1) the course equivalency—how each course the student completed at another institution translates into courses in the catalog at the new institution, and (2) how the translated courses…