Marion Technical College signed an articulation agreement with MVNU yesterday at MTC’s campus. The agreement, developed over the last year in collaboration with both institutions, facilitates the transfer of business associate degree graduates into MVNU’s bachelor’s degree programs.

Many students opt to attend a community college due to affordability or location. According to a recent article in “The Greentree Gazette,” annual community college tuition and fees are less than half the amounts charged at public four-year campus and, in some cases, one-tenth that of four-year private institutions.

This same article mentioned the number of community colleges in the United States as risen 17 percent in the last three decades, and they currently enroll 6.2 million students, or 35 percent of all U.S. college students. Twenty-eight percent of those enrolled at community colleges said they intend to use it as a stepping stone to a bachelor’s degree.

The agreement essentially lays out a “road map” for MTC business students so they know which courses to take in order to fulfill their bachelor’s degree at MVNU. It also ensures that Marion Technical courses and credits are recognized at MVNU and that the transition is a seamless one for students. Present for the event were Wayne Pessia, transfer enrollment counselor for MVNU, and Vicky Wood, Dean of Business and Information Technologies, from MTC.

MVNU currently has articulation agreements for social work students at Central Ohio Technical College, Marion Technical College, North Central State College and Zane State College. Business program articulation agreements are in process with these institutions and Columbus State. Agreements for education and nursing are being examined for the future.

“The articulation agreement will further enhance the educational opportunities available to students of Marion Technical College, while also assisting in Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s mission to better serve the Ohio region,” said Pessia. “I am confident that this collaborative effort will have significant benefit for students in the Marion area.”

“Transfer has become a much more prevalent part of the academic plans of MTC students,” commented Vicky Wood, Dean of Business and Information Technologies at MTC. “Between 20-25 percent of MTC graduates currently move on to a four-year institution within six months of graduation (15.9 percent of MTC applicants state their intent to transfer on their application forms), so our efforts have had to expand to accommodate these graduates’ goals. Collaborations with schools like MVNU give graduates the assurance that their academic credits and hard work will travel with them as their lives move forward.”