by Lisa Proulx
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Seventy-one of the 324 Great Bay Community College graduates this year applied for fall admission to the University of New Hampshire. This represents the highest number in GBCC history.
According to Deanna Friedman, director of advising at GBCC, 79% of the applicants were accepted to the Durham campus of UNH. GBCC also had the largest number of transfer applications to the state’s flagship institution out of all of the Community College System of New Hampshire colleges.
“We are ecstatic,” said GBCC President Will Arvelo. “Our continuing and growing collaboration with UNH is really beginning to pay off for students and their families as they look for more cost effective ways to gain a quality college education. The fact that we are the #1 feeder school out the 351 colleges from where students transfer to UNH speaks volumes about our quality of education and the impact of our alignment with the University. Our dual admissions program in particular has made it easy for students to be accepted at both colleges simultaneously as well as benefit from activities and transition services on both campuses.”
For close to a decade, Community Colleges have seen steady increases in enrollment due to students motivated by tuition savings and seamless transfer to bachelor degree programs. Direct transfer pathways programs, like the new dual admission program between the University System of New Hampshire and CCSNH have expanded and facilitated transfer between four-year public and private institutions throughout New England and beyond. Additional transfer pathways specific to GBCC include partnerships with UNH’s Colleges of Life Sciences and Agriculture, College of Engineering and Physical Science and Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics.
Most recently, GBCC has revamped their Business Administration program which now targets two kinds of students: those who want to move directly into a career with a two-year associate’s degree and those seeking to transfer to a four-year school, most likely the University of New Hampshire, Southern New Hampshire University or Granite State College.
In addition, two new associate degree programs in Bioengineering and Engineering Science will also be launching at Great Bay this fall. The new curriculum was developed in consultation with faculty from the UNH College of Engineering and Physical Sciences and closely aligns with the engineering requirements of bachelor-degree students at the University of the New Hampshire.
“The partnership between UNH and GBCC is critical to keeping New Hampshire students in New Hampshire,” said Victoria Dutcher, vice president for enrollment management at UNH. “We want to provide multiple ways for Granite State residents to access a world-class education at New Hampshire’s flagship university, and transferring from Great Bay or any of the other community colleges is an important vehicle to an affordable bachelor’s degree. GBCC has been a terrific collaborator with us in creating clear pathways to UNH for their students. We think this fall’s numbers are a harbinger of more success to come in the future.”
