The New England Board of Higher Education is seeking an implementation grant to scale the New England College Transfer Guarantee (the Guarantee), into the northern New England states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The Guarantee seeks to solve issues adversely impacting student transfer, such as credit loss, lack of standardization, affordability, out-dated institutional policies, and insufficient student support for successful bachelor’s degree attainment. Adding to the challenge, the northern New England states comprise fragmented and decentralized state transfer systems, which lag behind other states in New England and the country.
The Guarantee will unify state transfer and expand independent institution transfer opportunities, especially in the liberal arts, for the region’s community college population. During the planning phase, the Guarantee received overwhelming institutional support – 75% of independent institutions and 100% of community colleges signed non-binding Letters of Intent to Participate. The three year implementation phase will include the development and submission of state-specific Memorandums of Agreement, creation of one-stop transfer landing pages, and ultimately the preliminary cohorts of Guarantee students in the northern New England states.