At a July 15 news conference, the leaders of Eastern Iowa Community Colleges (EICC) and St. Ambrose University announced that new transfer agreements between the two institutions will make it even easier for EICC students to complete a bachelor's degree at St. Ambrose.
EICC Chancellor Don Doucette and Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, president of St. Ambrose University, signed new "2 + 2" agreements for Elementary Education, Business Sales, and Healthcare Sales programs. The agreements are specifically designed to provide participating students with a clear pathway to a four-year bachelor's degree in several high-demand fields.
"Our colleges have a strong tradition of cooperation and working together to provide our students the opportunity to transfer," said Doucette. "We couldn't be more pleased to take that a step further with the initiation of these agreements."
The agreements go into effect this fall. Students who earn their two-year Associate in Arts degree at one of EICC's three colleges—Clinton, Muscatine and Scott—will be able to transfer to St. Ambrose with junior class standing. They can apply up to 64 credits from EICC toward completing a St. Ambrose bachelor's degree. The agreements specifically outline the classes the students will complete at each institution, making it easy for students to understand what they need to do to be successful and complete their degree in four years.
"These new 2+2 Agreements provide significant value for students coming to St. Ambrose from Eastern Iowa Community Colleges," said Sister Joan Lescinski. "Our goal is to make a college degree affordable and to increase degree completion rates by providing a seamless transfer to St. Ambrose with maximum support and benefit for our shared students."
The Elementary Education major provides an English and Language Arts endorsement for kindergarten through eighth grade. The sales majors are new additions for St. Ambrose, developed due to growing demand for a well-educated sales workforce.
The programs are especially good news for students already living in the greater Quad Cities area, allowing them to remain close to home while completing their education. On average, St. Ambrose welcomes about 200 new transfer students each year, with more than 40 percent of those coming from EICC. Some of the most popular programs of study for students transferring to SAU are nursing, psychology, education, business and biology.
EICC enrolls more than 7,000 students each fall with more than half its students enrolled in transfer-related Arts and Sciences classes. The college also offers 33 career programs designed for students to enter directly into the working world upon graduation.
St. Ambrose is rated among the top universities in the region by two national ranking publications. With an enrollment of 3,300, it maintains an 11-to-1 student-faculty ratio, and offers more than 60 undergraduate majors and 15 master's and doctoral degree programs.
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