Lynchburg College has signed a guaranteed admission agreement with Virginia’s community colleges that will make it easier for students with two-year degrees to transfer to the private college.
Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia’s community colleges, and Lynchburg College President Kenneth Garren inked the deal in a ceremony on the Lynchburg campus Wednesday.
“Establishing this articulation agreement between the Virginia Community College System and Lynchburg College creates a new partnership that will better serve the academic needs of Virginia students,” LC President Kenneth Garren said. “Lynchburg College is currently the largest private college educator of Virginia students in the commonwealth, and this new agreement is expected to further increase the number of Virginia students enrolling at Lynchburg.”
“Virginia’s community colleges welcome the opportunity to work closely with Lynchburg to expand the on-ramp to a four-year college degree for Virginia students and their families,” said Chancellor DuBois. “Virginia’s private colleges and universities can play a key role in helping Virginia students reach their educational goals.”
Presidents from regional community colleges attended the signing event at Lynchburg College Wednesday. Robert Sandel, president of Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, said “We welcome this relationship with Lynchburg College and anticipate a wonderful partnership with them for all students.”
Darrel Staat, president of Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, noted that CVCC has a long-standing relationship with Lynchburg and has had many students transfer there. “We look forward to a continued relationship between our institutions as a result of the guaranteed admission agreement,” he said.
“This agreement complements Danville Community College’s baccalaureate degree initiative to increase the number of students transferring to four-year colleges and universities,” said DCC President Carlyle Ramsey. “I applaud Dr. Garren and his leadership.”
Under the guaranteed admission agreement, students with associate degrees in Arts, Science, or Arts and Science who have a grade point average of 2.0 or higher are eligible for the guaranteed transfer of up to 76 credit hours. Such degrees will fulfill Lynchburg’s general education requirement except for intermediate level foreign language and a two-semester-hour senior symposium course.
Virginia community college students will be eligible for special transfer scholarships, based on their grade point averages, and will also have the Lynchburg College application fee waived. A list of contacts will be available to help students with academic advice.
The guaranteed admission agreement is the most recent of 18 total guaranteed transfer agreements between Virginia’s community colleges and public and private four-year institutions. It’s the third agreement with a Virginia-based private college or university. Additional comprehensive agreements are pending.
Statewide agreements are detailed on the web at http://www.vccs.edu/vccsasr/agreements.htm .
The VCCS is comprised of 23 community colleges located on 40 campuses across the Commonwealth. Together, Virginia’s community colleges serve more than a quarter-million credit students each year.