Reverse Transfer Through the National Student Clearinghouse My involvement with transfer as registrar is to evaluates all incoming college transcripts Also produce outgoing transcripts – one of the major reasons I’m interested – looking for easy way to get this data back to cc’s We are committed to helping our cc partners by ensuring that all our transfers students who are eligible for an associates degree have the opportunity to take advantage of getting that diploma. I also serve on the advisory board of the nsc and I have watched as this initiative was started and developed and I think it has great potential Beth Acree Assistant Vice President, Enrollment Management

reverse transfer policies may boost state associate’s degree attainment up to 18% as it has done for Hawiaii associate degree holders earn more money -- in 2011 were 61 percent for women and 25 percent for men. Female associate degree holders earned $2,136 more per quarter, and male associate degree holders earned $1,115 more. (Britani Kezsler) 75% of the transfer students come to the UA from PCC, our major feeder, without an associate degree If all get a bachelors, more acceptable, but that doesn’t happen—best if they have the associates degree as well establishing reverse transfer is a priority for the Joint Council of Presidents (JCP) There are ongoing efforts happening and having success, but they are pretty clunky and manual Rather than seeing this single graduation cap….

We need processes that can serve greater numbers of students in more automated ways. **click Ideal if we had a statewide process – been discussed but no smoking gun solutions Several states have created statewide processes – many were mandated eleven states CWID As of June 2015, more than 7000 reverse transfer credentials were conferred by those states.   This tells us that there are many gains to be made by having a standard system for the state that is highly automated. Need to develop a process that could have a large impact and be sustainable.

Historical Approach to Reverse Transfer Many steps Back and forth And many institutions What can we do to streamline all of this?

Enter the NSC History Founded 93 as National Student Loan Clearinghouse Non profit – designed to address needs of constituents enrollment reporting process for student borrowers In 2000 expanded to include enrollment and degree verification and student tracker (research services) and became NSC 2004 transcript ordering service 2010 research center 2013 SPEEDE 2015 reverse transfer Coming = VA reporting In all examples of services, response to constituent requests – including reverse transfer AAU group – brainstorming how to deal with state mandated rev transfer – why not NSC? Leverage existing infrastructure with a trusted partner by taking a national approach to facilitate the reverse transfer processes Probably everyone in room is currently sending enrollment data and bio demo data to nsc. Why not take advantage of that existing relationship and structure to streamline this reverse transfer process?

NSC Reverse Transfer Project Funding Partners so far…. 1) University of Texas – Austin 2) University of Wisconsin – Madison 3) University of Arizona 4) Ohio State University 5) Stanford University 6) University of Maryland – College Park 7) University of Minnesota – Twin Cities 8) University of Kansas NSC decides to pursue this process and asked for support 7 institutions gave up a portion of their revenue to help fund the start up Grant from Lumina foundation

2015 NSC’s process was up and running in record time They already had all the infrastructure – just a matter of creating new file formats and a space for reverse transfer

Terms University = Host Two Year College = Degree Granting Institution (DGI)

Host to DGI Network Set Up Host Institution DGI Institutions University of Arizona ? Community College Basic operation steps Figure out trading partners sign service agreement, setting up an FTP mailbox – just like other nsc processes Once you start exchanging info, NSC sends notices to the DGI that they have data waiting to be downloaded.

Host institution will log on to submit a file after the end of each major term when grades are all posted. NSC validates Field errors File Structure errors If found, host is notified to correct and resend DGI will rest assured that all data is correct when they download a file – very important if want to use an automated import process

Host can review all of their submissions Failed/passed # records Date sent Searchable Click on a file to see details about errors or the success message

See files from all host institutions Can search for specific host or date Download the file into degree audit system or manual review Posts student degree in SIS when eligible Notifies NSC on the degree file by including a reverse transfer flag

Reports can be generated – Host example, --student Can also select “degrees” to see degrees granted during a time frame Both host and dgi can create these reports

Fields Can send all data each time or just updates SSN and security Address Core Effective date – much harder with transcript

Degree Audit Potential Working with flat file Can create a report format Can key on effective date of grade Can create automated process to import course data into degree audit systems The SPEEDE option Add reverse transfer flag to outgoing EDI/XML files Obstacles when using a vendor for EDI/XML files Two ways to send data – file upload and SPEEDE transcript Vendor issue for UA Student typically orders Payment is required SPEEDE Receipt and processing info goes to the vendor Everyone can use the file upload/download system, only a few have edi/xml capability

Phase 1 Facilitates the submission of files from the Host Institution, notification of Degree Granting Institution(s) and downloading of files by DGI(s) Projected Completion: July 2015 Status: Service went live on July 1, 2015

Phase 2 Creates a Student Data Mart at NSC which allows for cross checking of all student data held by NSC and provides mobile student access to all their data including who has accessed it and for what purpose Student Can report any discrepancies

Phase 3 Provides the ability to do pre degree audits prior to notifying DGIs of file presence

Progress on Current Initiatives Contacted by UA Degree Eligible Degree App Submitted MCCD 376 37 10 (28%) AWC 65 12 5 (47%) We identify students with at least 36 cc credits, and 60 total credits – filtered out associate grads Criteria can be tweaked Email the student to get permission to participate and send transcript to cc. Send those names and transcripts to cc for review Those who are degree eligible are contacted Hope to increase these numbers through streamlined, regular processing Scalable to as many cc’s as want to participate.

Why NSC Reverse Transfer? Free and unlimited course and grade data exchanges with multiple partners State-of-the-art file transfer security Ease of use for host and degree granting institutions Automatic data validation Current student contact information to help ensure diplomas are sent to the correct address Audit trail of all exchanges Reports of all interactions and all degrees granted

Next Steps Looking for a pilot partner Exploring options with Pima Community College Added an opt-in question to our application for admission What about FERPA Met with PCC, considering Want to find a partner to pilot a program with We have added question to application – optin vs optout Ferpa- compliant when permission obtained. Also lobbying Dept Ed to add clause to FERPA to specifically allow this. We have the potential to be the first state that is using this method state-wide!!!

The Clearinghouse Reverse Transfer project is a major step in improving higher education outcomes, which will benefit us as a nation. More students will get the degrees they deserve. Community colleges will be recognized for the value they add to education. And — by granting more degrees — states will be better positioned to attract new business. − Dr. Walter G. Bumphus, President and CEO, American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)

National Student Clearinghouse Beth Acree Assistant Vice President, Scholarships and Financial Aid & Registrar acree@email.Arizona.edu National Student Clearinghouse Reverse Transfer: https://www.reversetransfer.org/ http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/colleges/reversetransfer.php Implementation Guide: http://studentclearinghouse.info/onestop/wp-content/uploads/ReverseTransferImplementationGuide.pdf Demo: https://www.brainshark.com/nsc/vu?pi=zHPz162FJxzIxVJz0