OSU-Cascades, COCC partner on ‘seamless’ four-year degrees

An agreement between Oregon State University – Cascades and Central Oregon Community College being announced this week expands efforts between the university and the college to more effectively guide students to four-year degree completion.

Under the Degree Partnership Program, students interested in starting studies at COCC can self-identify as bachelor’s degree-seeking and be jointly admitted to both schools, allowing them to access academic advisors from OSU-Cascades.

“The Degree Partnership Program advances our longstanding relationship with COCC, and our shared focus to support students who want to start at COCC and complete a bachelor’s degree at OSU-Cascades,” said Becky Johnson, vice president of OSU-Cascades.

“We’ve heard that some students across the state have expressed concerns about credits transferring to a four-year university. We want to do what we can to keep that from happening in the future,” Johnson said in a news release.

The schools said the agreement supports OSU and statewide priorities to create seamlessness between Oregon’s community colleges and universities, and increase students’ rate of degree completion.

It will be formally announced at a regular meeting of the COCC Board of Directors at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday in the Boyle Education Center on the COCC campus.

Currently, about 30 percent of students at OSU-Cascades transfer from COCC.

“The joint DPP agreement provides COCC and OSU-Cascades a truer sense of a student’s goals. That knowledge improves our ability to guide and advise them, and their ability to leverage financial support,” said Shirley Metcalf, president of COCC. “It also increases the likelihood of the student’s success – which is our ultimate goal.”

Under the agreement, students apply to OSU-Cascades, self-identifying as wanting to take lower-division courses at COCC as they pursue their bachelor’s degree. Applying students must meet OSU admission requirements. DPP students are assigned an academic advisor at OSU-Cascades to guide them toward their goal and ensure that courses they select from either institution fulfill OSU baccalaureate core and degree requirements.

DPP students are eligible for student services at the campus where they are taking classes, including career and internship advising, disability access services, and tutoring, as well as student life activities.

DPP students may benefit from the increased flexibility offered when combining both institutions’ course offerings. They can also benefit from the combined lower tuition, and leverage financial support from Oregon Promise funding available through COCC, and scholarship and financial aid available through both institutions.

Under the DPP agreement, students will pay tuition and fees based on registration at each institution, but only a single application fee.

Current transfer students may qualify for the program.

Through the agreement, students can also opt to pursue a degree at the OSU campus in Corvallis or via OSU Ecampus.

To learn more about the DPP program, contact 541-322-3119 or bendbeavs@osucascades.edu, or visit OSUcascades.edu/admissions/dpp.