Deal brings bachelor's degrees to Garrett College in McHenry

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Sep 18, 2006 by Joe Bacchus

The University of Maryland University College and Garrett College have entered into an agreement to give the rural community college's students the opportunity to receive four-year degrees.

Under the agreement, Garrett students will be able to apply their first two years of associate arts credits toward bachelor's degrees at the online institution, said Susan Aldridge, UMUC's president.

Garrett students will be eligible for associate's and bachelor's degrees in: business administration; global business and public policy; management studies; criminal justice and environmental management.

Paul Dauphinais, president of Garrett College, said giving the rural area students access to new opportunities without forcing them to go somewhere else means Garrett County will have a better chance of holding on to the future workers.

"In many rural communities, once folks leave they rarely come back, and those communities lose a terrific resource," he said.

The alliance also means students can receive the benefits of both small and large institutions, as Garrett students won't have to sacrifice the intimacy of small classes and a close-knit community in the name of their education, he said. There are 740 students enrolled this semester.

"Students won't lose the - from my perspective -goodness and fullness of being face-to-face with faculty members," Dauphinais said.

Many community college students already transfer to four-year universities after two years, Aldridge said. However, they do so knowing some of their credits will not count in the new institution. The alliance removes that concern by guaranteeing the credits.

Aldridge said the partnership alliance goes hand-in-hand with UMUC's mission of educating Maryland's atypical students. These would be adults who've spent years in the work force, people who don't want to uproot their families, even U.S. soldiers overseas, she said.

"What we try to do is fill in the gaps in the state of Maryland," Aldridge said.

She said she does not yet know how many students will ultimately participate in the program. The schools are currently meeting with, and advising students on the opportunity, and incoming students won't even be ready for their third years until late 2008.

Aldridge said there are no real limitations to the program's potential.

"We can accommodate all of them if they're interested," she said.

Over time, the two schools will determine if some classes would be better suited to on-site professors. The alliance already plans to have a UMUC educator on staff at Garrett each week.

UMUC currently has alliance partnerships with 11 of the 16 community colleges in the state. Aldridge said she hopes to eventually work with all of them.