noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646
DURHAM -- When Burgess Tilley graduated from Orange High School in Hillsborough a year ago last June, he had every intention of pursuing his education and getting a university degree.
What he didn't have was money.
"I didn't have a lot to put into a big, expensive university," Tilley said. "You can't really do a big, four-year university without a lot of money.'
Instead, Tilley enrolled in Durham Tech's University Transfer Program, which allows students to complete up to two years of course work for a bachelor's degree and then transfer, for the remaining two years, to a four-year school. Next fall, according to the plan, he will enter UNC Chapel Hill as a junior, his basic courses taken care of, halfway to his degree in sociology.
"It would have cost me exponentially more money if I had gone to UNC directly," Tilley said. "Doing it this way has saved me thousands of dollars. If you're looking for affordability, this is the way to do it."
During difficult economic times, it's the way to do it for an increasing number of local students.
Over the past year, Durham Tech has seen a 15 percent increase in the number of students in its university transfer program, which currently enrolls more than 1,500. The program, under an agreement with the UNC system, guarantees that all credits earned at Durham Tech during those first two years will automatically transfer to the four-year campuses. "It's an agreement that protects the student," said Thomas Gould, Durham Tech's associate dean for university transfer.
The savings for students who choose the program are substantial. For in-state students, Durham Tech tuition and fees is $50 per credit hour, or $640 for 12 hours worth of credits. At UNC Chapel Hill, tuition costs in-state students $3,865. Add to that the nearly $9,000 cost of room and board for most UNC students -- Durham Tech students generally live at home -- and the difference is around $15,000 per academic year.
That's a lot of money at any time, but particularly now.
"The economy is the primary reason [for the student increase in the transfer program]," Gould said. "But it's sort of a perfect storm of factors now. There's also, I think, the growing awareness that university transfer is academically a very effective and efficient way to complete the first two years of higher education."
The program has been very efficient; program graduates earn their bachelor degrees from UNC system schools at a rate equivalent to students who began their academic careers at the four-year institutions, and even manage higher grade point averages. The program has been identified by the North Carolina Community College System as one of the top 5 performing transfer programs in the state for the past five years.
The reason for the success, Gould said, is that the students are fully prepared for the switch.
"We do a lot of advising with them," he said. "We get them into study tracks and make sure that -- depending on what they want to major in -- they have taken the appropriate courses. And we have very high standards -- for instance, we require more foreign language and mathematics than other university transfer programs demand."
About 200 new students enter the program each year. Tamika Stanton is now in her third semester, with one more to go before she transfers to Chapel Hill.
When she graduated from Hillside High School in Durham in 2000, college wasn't immediately on the horizon. She was a teenage single mother, and she knew she had to work. Her son was 2 at the time.
She worked in child care at first and then, at Durham Tech, got an associate's degree in cosmetology. But "there's no benefits with hair," she said. "And it's a lot of wear and tear on your body."
She became a caseworker for a Head Start program and saw her new career path: she wanted to get a degree in social work.
"I need to get my degree," Stanton said, "and this is the only way I could afford to do it."
You shouldn't, she added, "put a price on education. But you have to. And this price is a lot better."
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Benefits of program
Other than the obvious -- the reduced cost of attendance -- why would a student choose Durham Tech's university transfer program? What are the benefits of becoming an official university transfer curriculum student?
The college says there are many, including:
- Enrolled UT students get the help of an experienced adviser -- an advocate who can assist with planning courses and making sure the student takes the courses needed to graduate and transfer.
- Enrolled UT students get to register early; in fact, they get to register first. That means they can usually get the courses and schedule they want because of registering on the first two "bonus" days of telephone registration for each semester.
- Enrolled UT students receive a plan of study that outlines the kinds and number of courses in each discipline that a student must take to graduate and to transfer.
- Enrolled UT students qualify for scholarships. Durham Tech offers a number of substantial financial scholarships to eligible students who are enrolled in the UT program.
- Enrolled UT students can earn money for their four-year degree. Each year, the UT program recognizes outstanding UT students who will graduate and transfer to four-year institutions with financial awards.
