Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Let’s Talk! At the Winter 2023 College Fair

Posted by eugene.holden | Start the discussion

Hosted and produced by Carrie Cantrell. Edited by Carrie Cantrell. Interviews by Miguel Chavez and Carrie Cantrell, Transcriptions authored by Mars Allen, Maureen Greer, and Shecki Julian.  Carrie and Miguel are on the scene live at the 2023 Winter College Fair!

You can also listen to this episode on Spotify.

Transcript

Carrie: Hello PCC students, it is time for another episode of Let’s Talk. Let’s Talk is a podcast produced about student culture at PCC, from the perspectives of students with disabilities. We are really excited to bring you this new episode of Let’s Talk. It is centered all around in the field interviews with regional colleges and universities from our recent college fair. The in the field reporter is Miguel Chavez, another ambassador and advocate in the Accessible Education and Disability Resource Department, and also myself. My name is Carrie Cantrell, I am an advocate, a student, and I’m also a journalist. I’m really excited to share with you what we have learned at the college fair. Let’s talk about this and decide where we want to go to college.

Miguel: Willamette University. Hi there! How’s it going?

Ally: How are you?

Miguel: I’m good, how are you?

Ally: I’m Ally.

Miguel: Ally, nice to meet you, I’m Miguel.

Ally: Nice to meet you, Miguel.

Miguel: So I’m doing a podcast with the accessibility office called Let’s Talk. And I’m just going around asking students, you know, what– asking the universities, and the, what do they have to offer for students that are transferring? Just, you know, students can have an idea of like, you know, what to expect, kind of a thing.

Ally: Yeah, definitely. Um, do you have like, specific– specifics?

Miguel: You know, what is good for these scholarships for students that are transferring this year?

Ally: We do, so for us, academic scholarships start at $22,000 a year, they go up to $32,000 a year. Every student that is submitted as a transfer student will receive a minimum of $20,000 a year. And that’s just in merit aid, not including need-based aid.

Miguel: Okay.

Ally: So that’s something that’s, that’s positive. And we have a fall and a spring semester, so students can start either fall or spring semester, and they’re always looking out for those scholarships, regardless of when they apply.

Miguel: Okay.

Miguel: Didn’t, do you guys have other scholarships that students can apply for?

Ally: We do, so for example, like students that are in Phi Theta Kappa, we have a $2,000 scholarship that they can get. We have some other competitive scholarships, so if the student knows they want to be on the debate team, or that they know they want to be involved in art, or theater, or music, they can audition for those scholarships, as well kind of stamp those on top of their merit scholarship.

Miguel: What is the cultural life at Willamette?

Ally: Yeah, so I would say at Willamette, we’re a pretty vibrant campus. I mean, we’re smaller in a community with about 2,000 total students, undergrad and grad, and we have more of a liberal arts focused college. But because of that, our students are really well connected with each other, and also our faculty. So, you, definitely students know their professors, we have about 15 students per class.

Miguel: Oh wow.

Ally: And the largest class we would ever have on campus will be 30.

Miguel: Okay.

Ally: So no big lecture hall classes. So people that know that they want something a little bit smaller, more community oriented, easy to get involved.

Miguel: Yeah.

Ally: We’re gonna be a good fit for them.

Miguel: Do you guys have any online programs that you guys do?

Ally: We don’t have any online programs, we are, everything is in person for us.

Miguel: And then for this– how much is the tuition per year?

Ally: So our tuition is about $40,000 a year. If you didn’t get any, but again, I said, the minimum student would get would be $22,000 a year. So you’re looking at the most someone would pay for tuition be about 26,000 a year.

Miguel: What is your, um, I’m assuming you guys have an office of accessibility?

Ally: We do, yeah. So we have our accessibility education services at Willamette, and they’re wonderful. So all of the directors that work in there, they can meet with students on a regular basis, just to make sure accommodations are being made and any improvements on campus as well.

Miguel: Is there anything else you want students to know?

Ally: Ooh let’s see! [Miguel laughing]

Ally: So what is something that is unique, is that we do offer on campus housing, even for transfer students.

Miguel: Oh wow, ok!

Ally: Students, can they really want more of that traditional college feeling of living on campus? Yeah, we do have that available, um, for all grade levels at Willamette.

Miguel: Okay.

Ally: And we’re in downtown Salem, so it’s nice, everything’s walking distance.

Miguel: Oh, so you guys are not far.

Ally: No, we’re about 45 minutes away. And we are the closest university or college to any state capitol building in the entire United States.

Miguel: Wow!

Ally: We’re also the oldest university west of the Mississippi River.

Miguel: Uh-huh.

Ally: So if you think of where the Mississippi River is, it’s actually pretty far east.

Miguel: Yeah.

Ally: And so, we’ve been around since 1842.

Miguel: Do you have any like, like, let’s just say like, if I needed to have this week to myself due to technology or like loud noises or anything like that?

Ally: Oh, yeah.

Miguel: Like, do you guys accommodate?

Ally: We do, yeah. And we have many students that have similar accommodations to that on campus. Do you want to take any information or do you want my contact information?

Miguel: I would love your contact information!

Ally: Yeah!

Miguel: I mean, do you want to let the listeners know the website where they can go to get more info?

Ally: Yeah. So to get more info they can go to Willamette.edu

Miguel: I mean, I’ll take some of your info, that’s fine.

Ally: There you go.

Miguel: Do you have any swag?

Ally: I have a pen.

Miguel: Yeah. Thank you.

Ally: Nice to meet you. Thanks for stopping by.

Miguel: I’ll have to go visit.

Ally: Yes. Come on down. It’s not too far. You just get on… I5.

Miguel: Thank you so much. Yeah.

Miguel: Okay. So can you tell me your name?

Allison: I’m Allison.

Miguel: Allison, nice to meet you, I’m Miguel.

Miguel: So Allison, tell me about the– some of the housing opportunities that students have at PSU.

Allison: Yeah, so we offer a variety of different unit types.

Miguel: Mm-hm.

Allison: We have sleepers, which are your kind of more dorm-like spaces, where you’ve got your own in-room sink. We have a microwave, mini-fridge, bed, desk dresser, but then the bathrooms and kitchens are shared per floor and per building. And-and we have those all the way up to like one-bedroom apartments that are just straight up one bedroom apartment, kitchen in unit, right downtown. And we’ve got some things in between, so suites and studios where you can either be by yourself or with a roommate. Um, and the– everything except for those sleepers have a kitchen and bathroom in the room.

Miguel: How do you guys accommodate, for people who have, you know, a disability that, you know, may need their own personal room, or like an area, um, where they may need some extra space?

Allison: Yeah, we work closely with the Disability Resource Center on campus. So we have students work with the Disability Resource Center, and the-the DRC will then contact us and say, “Hey, this student needs a single with their own bathroom, or a single where they can share a bathroom. They need a kitchen, or they need an accessible room. They can’t do stairs or any-any of those.” And then we work with that information to make sure the student gets the room that’s going to meet their accommodation needs.

Miguel: Yeah.

Allison: And then we also adjust with pricing. So if a student has an accommodation for a single unit, they’re not going to be paying the price of a single unit, they will be paying the price as though they were in a double unit. But they will have the space to themselves because the double units are less expensive. So we’re not charging them more because they have an accommodation.

Miguel: Ok, so, what is the culture you guys have at PSU?

Allison: Uh, just in general?

Miguel: Yeah, yeah, the city culture?

Allison: Yeah! Um, I think it’s a really great open– It is too early for my brain still. An accepting culture, we work really hard within housing, I can talk specifically. You know, we work to build community amongst the students that are living on campus and per floor.

Miguel: Uh-Huh.

Allison: So we have residents’ assistants and residents’ directors who are there to help make sure everybody’s being able to connect, making sure that you’re finding the resources you need, and you have that-that chance for community within your building.

Miguel: Yeah.

Allison: Being a large commuter campus we know that can be hard, so we want our residents who are living on site to-to have that little community, and have that ability to connect.

Miguel: And do you guys have any, like, scholarships for someone who wants to transfer over?

Allison: Um specifically for housing, we don’t offer any-any scholarships but there are plenty that the university offers, so they’re– talking to admissions is where to get that, but we don’t have any housing-specific financial aid unfortunately. Yeah.

Miguel: Awesome, at least for the housing part of it. [laughs]

Allison: Yeah, sure thing! Thanks for asking. I’m glad to be able to share.

Miguel: Of course!

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Miguel: Okay. Are they here to the right?

Speaker: What?

Miguel: Are they here to the right?

Speaker: Oh, yeah, it’s just right here.

Miguel: Okay. Hi there!

Jennifer: Hi, how are you doing?

Miguel: I’m good. How are you?

Jennifer: Good!

Miguel: What is your name?

Jennifer: Jennifer, what’s your name?

Miguel: Jennifer? Nice to meet you, I’m Miguel.

Jennifer: Hi, nice to meet you!

Miguel: So, I work with the Office of Accessibility.

Jennifer: Okay.

Miguel: And so we’re doing a podcast called Let’s Talk.

Jennifer: Uh-huh.

Miguel: And so I’m walking around talking to everyone, you know– ask about, you know, what- what do they offer for the tra– for students who are transferring, just kind of giving them the resources.

Jennifer: So have you heard of Embry Riddle?

Miguel: I have not.

Jennifer: Okay.

Miguel: Tell me more.

Jennifer: Okay! [giggles]

Miguel: Tell me more! [laughs]

Jennifer: So our main campuses are in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Miguel: Okay.

Jennifer: And Prescott, Arizona.

Miguel: Okay.

Jennifer: And those are your traditional, residential, live on campus kind of universities. And then, um, I’m part of Worldwide, which is an extended campus. So I’m actually here in Portland.

Miguel: Okay!

Jennifer: We offer a smaller offering program.

Miguel: Oh, you guys offer!

Jennifer: Everything can be done online. Some are aviation related. We also have some business degrees. We do have an online engineering program. Some security ones, homeland security, cyber security, that kind of thing.

Miguel: Oh, that’s pretty cool.

Jennifer: Yeah!

Miguel: What do you guys offer as far as, like, culture? Like, city culture.

Jennifer: On campus, right in Daytona Beach in Florida, they’re smaller. Daytona Beach has about 7,000 students.

Miguel: Uh-huh.

Jennifer: But it has about 4,000.

Miguel: Uh-huh.

Jennifer: So there’s smaller students. We are very technical oriented. So a lot of hands-on experiences, and, you know, labs and that kind of thing.

Miguel: Yeah.

Jennifer: Our engineering and our security programs are– win awards a lot, as far as the best engineering, cybersecurity programs. Those are traditionally younger students coming out of high-school or, you know, in their early 20’s. Worldwide, which is what I’m a part of, our students tend to be the transfer students that are coming from community college, or they’re out there working in the field already.

Miguel: Nice.

Jennifer: Yeah!

Miguel: And, like, what is your transfer policy? Like, do you guys tra– what is the last day to, um, send applications, or, do you guys– do you guys still have scholarships?

Jennifer: So again, so for the residential campuses, um, they operate on a traditional schedule. So there’s a fall semester and a spring semester.

Miguel: Uh-huh.

Jennifer: Those deadlines are coming up in the fall semester, I believe it’s in April.

Miguel: Uh-

huh Jennifer: And we do have scholarships, a lot of different scholarships at those locations. Or worldwide, which I’m a part of, we have rolling enrollment, so you can start anytime. Um, we don’t have as many new scholarships, can, we tend to keep our tuition lower.

Miguel: Okay.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miguel: What’s your tuition for the online?

Jennifer: Um, so it is, um, It’s about 13,000 a year.

Miguel: Okay.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Miguel: For your online program, do you guys have, like, an office of accessibility, or a disability office?

Jennifer: We do

Miguel: You do?

Jennifer: It’s in our headquarters, which is in Florida.

Miguel: Uh-huh.

Jennifer: But there are people there working different shifts to accommodate different time zones.

Miguel: Oh, awesome!

Jennifer: You know what I’m saying?

Miguel: Yeah.

Jennifer: Because since we’re all over the world, we don’t all function on Eastern.

Miguel: Oh, absolutely. [laughs] Right?

Jennifer: [laughs] But yeah, so they are there and, um, to give you whatever combination someone might need.

Miguel: Awesome.

Jennifer: Yeah!

Miguel: Well, thanks, Jennifer.

Jennifer: You’re welcome.

Miguel: Is there any information you want the listeners to hear or to-to take from this?

Jennifer: I would go to the website, check it out and see.

Miguel: What’s the website name?

Jennifer: It’s Erau.edu.

Miguel: Erau.edu. Okay.

Jennifer: And check out the program. Yeah!

Miguel: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Jennifer, it was so nice to meet you.

Jennifer: Nice to meet you, thanks for stopping by!

Miguel: Awesome, thank you, and of course!

Speaker: I’m doing a podcast today, so.

Miguel: I’m doing a podcast.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Miguel: So-so tell them, I know you told me this, but, um, I’m doing a podcast with PCC for the Office of Accessibility.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Miguel: And so it’s called Let’s Talk. So just kind of go over like the overview of like, you know, the overview of, you know, the transfers of EOU.

Speaker 2: Okay!

Miguel: For the Listeners.

Speaker 2: So, we work with, um, PCC, we have a partnership with them. So, we work really hard with accepting as many credits as we can through– with transcripts. We also have accelerated options including a Pell that’s credit for prior experience, or ASR, which is, um, I’m gonna forget the acronym now. But it’s for when– if you receive, like, certificates to work, we may be able to grant through that-through that experience. Trying to see what else.

Miguel: We talked about the [indistinct].

Speaker 2: Yes, you’re, you’re gonna sign up for that right?

Miguel: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah, that’s a really awesome class. So if nothing else, I feel like you walked out of that class with, like, your elevator speech, you know exactly what you can bring forward going on. So even if you don’t end up using this, even if you don’t end up applying for additional credits, I think-I think the student walks away, giving-giving themselves a better base on what they can, what they can bring forward. As far as transferring with PCC; so as an advisor, I work with our students, whether they’re already graduated from PCC or they’re still enrolled. If they want to co-enroll, we work on that. Wow, I don’t know. [Miguel giggles]

Speaker 2: What else?

Miguel: Do you want to let the listeners know the deadlines?

Speaker 2: It’s early admission, so we’ll take new students each term. So that’s, uh, that’s all four terms fall, winter, spring, summer. Our cost per credit is one of the lowest of state public schools. So that is a benefit for students who are looking to save. Also my students that have arrived from community colleges, I work with them to maximize. If they can take a class through the community college, PCC, then I’ll direct them that way. Because I know college credit through PCC is less than a credit from here, so I try to help students maximize that, through that door.

Miguel: I have applied for the Transfer Scholarship, but I never received it.

Speaker 2: You didn’t? So I can check with financial aid.

Miguel: Okay. fulfilling the customer paperwork.

Speaker 2: What?

Miguel: Because it’s appropriate for this chain,

Speaker 2: They were not?

Miguel: Mm-hmm.

Speaker: Okay. So let me reach out to financial aid and I’ll ask them for you.

Miguel: It’s good stuff to hear about.

Speaker 2: Yeah! I know, because registration starts Friday for seniors.

Miguel: Yeah.

Speaker 2: So.

Miguel: I’m just like, oh God.

Speaker 2: I know, I can’t remember you’re…?

Miguel: Senior.

Speaker 2: You have enough credits for senior status?

Miguel: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Okay. So if we-we to talk to them.

Speaker: WGU.

Andy: Hello.

Miguel: Hi, there. How’s it going?

Andy: Good. How are you?

Miguel: I’m good. What’s your name?

Andy: I’m Andy.

Miguel: Andy? Nice to meet you, I’m Miguel. So I am sitting here since I work with the Office of Accessibility.

Andy: Okay.

Miguel: And we’re doing this podcast called Let’s Talk. So I’m just walking around asking questions, you know, talking to different universities and seeing what they have to offer for students that want to transfer.

Andy: Okay. Yeah, so we do have transfer opportunities. So, uh, we have, uh, Transfer Pathways for those students who complete associate’s degrees. They can see how their credits transfer to our programs at WGU. I have– we also have specific transfer scholarships as well for students who graduate with their associate’s degree. A little bit about us is that we have four colleges: IT, Business, Health Professions, and Teachers College. Each of those programs is competency based. So students take one course at a time. It’s entirely self-paced. Any other questions?

Miguel: What scholarship opportunities do you guys have to offer?

Andy: So, if you earn your associate’s degree and transfer to WGU, you have the opportunity to earn a $2,500 transfer scholarship; it’s paid over four terms.

Miguel: Okay.

Andy: And there’s also multiple program-specific scholarships, depending on if you want to go into business or teaching or whatever it might be.

Miguel: Yeah.

Andy: We also have a flat rate tuition. So our tuition is billed per term, not per credit hour. So if you complete four courses or 20 courses, you pay the same amount of tuition. So it’s about $3,700 for a six-month time.

Miguel: Okay. And what is the application process to be able to transfer you over?

Andy: Yeah.

Miguel: Is there a deadline?

Andy: Yeah. No, we enroll the first of every month. So whenever a student wants to start, we say, “Let’s start applying about two months prior to when you want to start,” since it would be the first of every month. You just go online. You fill out the application and then you’ll be contacted by an enrollment counselor who will then go through the process with you about financial aid, transcripts, applying for scholarships, all that good stuff.

Miguel: And do you guys have an Office of Accessibility?

Andy: We do. We’re a hundred percent online. So we have 24/7 access for students to be able to access and– I’m just going to pull up our accessibility website… Yeah, because we are online, it operates a little bit different. Each student also gets a program mentor, so you have somebody with you from day one that helps you guide you through the program as well.

Miguel: Oh nice!

Andy: Yeah! Any other questions?

Miguel: Oh, that was it. It was very nice to meet you.

Andy: You too, thanks for stopping by.

Miguel: Thank you.

Andy: Hope you get lots of good information today.

Miguel: Awesome! Can we get a pamphlet so we can use it to [indistinct] accessibility?

Andy: Sure. There’s a pamphlet right there. Do you want more than one or what are you thinking?

Carrie: Oh, I don’t know why I heard Brian. Aaron. Your name’s actually Aaron. [Aaron laughs]

Carrie: Sorry about that, Aaron.

Aaron: So you’re interested in journalism?

Carrie: Yeah. And also, just so you know, I am recording right now for a podcast. Is that okay? A podcast for student– student culture on PCC campus.

Aaron: Okay.

Carrie: It’s a school project. And I’m a disability student advocate. So we’re talking about transferring as students experiencing disabilities and what that would be like, moving on to a four-year university.

Aaron: Okay. Well what questions can I answer for you today?

Carrie: Yeah. Well, thank you. What sort of programs do you have about journalism, communications and environmentalism?

Aaron: Well, let me just show you…

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: And are you a student here?

Carrie: Yes, I am.

Aaron: All right. So our Applied Journalism is a minor.

Carrie: Ohhhhh.

Aaron: We do have the Communications major.

Carrie: So is there an opportunity to use Applied Journalism as a minor with another course of studies, like Environmentalism or Communications?

Aaron: Yes.

Carrie: Ahhh. Interesting.

Aaron: And then we also have the Digital Communication Bachelor of Arts.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: And so, a degree like this. This is in our online campus. So we have some programs that are in Corvallis, fully. And then we have a small campus in Bend, and then we have online so…

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: This gives students an option if they can’t be in– full time in Corvallis, they can do something like Digital Communication Arts.

Carrie: Understood. Yeah, I think I probably would be interested in moving to Corvallis. So I want to know about the minor in journalism and in whatever environmental bioscience degrees you have.

Aaron: So the best source– what I often do is just– at our homepage, Oregonstate.edu, okay? We have a pretty extensive website and– internet here is slow. Sorry…

Carrie: That’s okay. Oh, Cascade Campus is infamous for slow internet. Trust us! [laughs]

Aaron: I often have my hotspot going.

Carrie: Yeah. [laughs] That’s smart.

Aaron: So, you know, just type in “journalism” here and you get the minor and applied journalism. And so we pretty much have a web page for everything that will give you the kind of the specific details that you’re going to be looking for. So I would definitely recommend going to the website.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: So, within the university, College of Liberal Arts. In the School of Writing, Literature, and Film. So we got all the layers to get you to your Journalism.

Carrie: School of Writing, Literature, and Film. Undergraduate programs. Minors and Certificates. Okay.

Aaron: So again, if you just start at the website, Oregonstate.edu that’ll uh, get you. And then the other one you said was Communications?

Carrie: Yeah, I am on a communications track right now. And my intentions would be to either make that a major or uh, yeah, yeah. I like communicating, as poorly as I’m communicating that concept right now [laughs].

Aaron: So, New Media Communications is one degree, and then again on the online we have the Communicate– Digital Communication.

Carrie: Yeah.

Aaron: So then this gives you the…

Carrie: Bachelors of Science. I’m familiar with that. I used to have a radio program on KBOL.

Aaron: Oh, so you’re used to soundboard then.

Carrie: Yeah.

Aaron: And then you can do the minor in New Media Communication.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: And there’s that… Graduate level. So several different routes. The other thing I recommend students doing– so this is our Transfer Credit Central– so what we’re going to do is go down here to Oregon Transfer Guide and then we’re going to go, uh, College of Liberal Arts. And then we’re going to go down to PCC. And what this does, it gives you a transfer guide specific for students at Portland Community College.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: And then okay, we pick– let’s just say you’re interested in Digital Communication Arts.

Carrie: I’m not though. [laughs]

Aaron: But if you were…We’ll go back to that– another example.

Carrie: Maybe I am.

Aaron: It tells you what campus. It tells you the, um, oh this one doesn’t. But courses that you can take that meet our back core requirements.

Carrie: Okay. It looks beautiful in Bend.

Aaron: It is. Small campus there. It’s about 15–

Carrie: Small campus…

Aaron: About 1500 students.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: Less programs, so…

Carrie: What’s housing like on each of the campuses?

Aaron: So this one, all buildings are brand new, so brand-new dorm there. So housing on campus.

Carrie: In Bend?

Aaron: In Bend.

Carrie: Yeah.

Aaron: At Cascades. A lot of options at Corvallis. So the transfer dorm is actually our newest dorm. We have two transfer dorms.

Carrie: Ohhhh.

Aaron: Halsell and Tebeau. So those are good options for students who may be, you know, “I don’t want to room with freshmen and I want to be in an upper– upper-level course” so we have transfer dorms. We also have our Living Learning Centers. And so we have students in the Honors College and they have an Honors-College dorm. We have students in the College of Business, and there’s a dorm specific for College of Business. I think there’s one also for engineering. So there’s– there’s housing that you can be with other students of the same major.

Carrie: So good. Ummm. And what uh– what’s campus life like?

Aaron: Corvallis, the city of Corvallis, is rated as one of the top ten college towns in the country.

Carrie: Oh, really?

Aaron: Yeah. One of the nice things about Corvallis– the city of Corvallis– is busing is free. So you have the campus Beaver Bus…

Carrie: Yeah.

Aaron: But then the city buses run to campus and anywhere on campus, there’s no cost.

Carrie: That is cool.

Aaron: So for students, you know, transportation-wise maybe for students going down there don’t have a car, the public transport is free and available. It’s also very bike friendly town, and so…

Carrie: That sounds –

Aaron: A lot of students, biking is their main option.

Carrie: Yeah, I think a lot of people in Portland would fit in with that [laughs]. A lot of buses and bikes.

Aaron: It’s a small town – it’s about 30,000,

Carrie: That’s so cool.

Aaron: You know, you go to Eugene, next door, and that’s a little bit bigger. 60,000. So some people like that smaller feel.

Carrie: Yeah.

Aaron: For some, you know, from Portland, that may be a little too small.

Carrie: I’m from a small town. I like it. I like small towns a lot.

Aaron: This is our degree partnership program. So this is where essentially like being dual enrolled where you can be admitted to Oregon State but also attending classes at PCC at the same time.

Carrie: Oh, okay.

Aaron: So, students do that because it gives them access to OSU advisors even while they’re student at PCC.

Carrie: Okay. And it allows for you to see how you’re progressing towards your bachelor’s degree at Oregon State.

Carrie: Yeah.

Aaron: And then a lot of students will do this for– you have up to ten terms before you even have to take a class at Oregon State.

Carrie: Ohhh.

Aaron: So it makes it a lot more affordable. Come down to Corvallis and, say you need another lower division course, you can go over to Linn-Benton Community College and take the course there, half the price.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: And then it transfers over automatically. So it gives you flexibility.

Carrie: Yeah, that sounds super convenient.

Aaron: And some combine: some will be taking eight hours at PCC and take one course at Oregon State.

Carrie: Okay. Um, one– so the podcast I’m creating right now is actually for Accessible Education Disability Resources Department here. What sort of access services do you guys have for students experiencing disabilities?

Aaron: So we– depending on if we’re talking physical or academic, but we have a Disability Access Services.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: So we have a wonderful program there, that is– supports students. So individually, academically, we have within the colleges, there’s a lot of academic support. We have a whole program that’s dedicated for Disability Access Services. And so this is where I steer students. And the beauty here is you can just set up a Zoom appointment, and talk about whatever your situation is, and they can let you know what their resources are. So this would be a great link for students to find out what resources regarding their specific situation. So they would help manage whether it’s physical disability. It could be, you know, that they set you up with a note taker in your class, and so you have that as an option. It could be setting you up with managing– like some students have an IEP of high school and they– they’re going to transfer that over to the university. And they would help with the documentation for some of the things that students need for extended time or for tests support, things like that. And then, you know, physical disability as well. There’s resources that they would help manage. But a whole support team here regarding disability services. So again, Disability Access Services. And then in the room drop-in is very nice. So you could set an appointment and talk to them – you don’t have to be a current student.

Carrie: Cool.

Aaron: “Hey, I’m a prospective student, I’m looking at what resources you have there, set up a zoom drop-in and they’ll walk you through it.

Carrie: Okay. I’m curious about the application process: deadlines, if there’s any scholarships available for transfer students, or specific grants available for students that have disabilities.

Aaron: So, I don’t know about specific grants for disabilities–

Carrie: That’s fine. Yeah.

Aaron: –But the disability access service would be.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: So on our webpage, we have the transfer student requirements.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: So you– minimum 24 quarter credits, completion of Writing 121 with a C minus or better, completion of Math 105, or 111, with a C minus or better, and then a minimum of a 2.25 GPA.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: So that’s what we need for transfer admission. The other– there’s a state requirement for two years of foreign language, which can be met with high school foreign language. If not, then you would just take it at the university.

Carrie: Oh okay. Aaron So those are the basic admission requirements. In regard to deadlines, it depends what term you’re looking at. On this page here, for instance, you can go to– okay, if I’m looking at Fall 23, the deadline is March 15th.

Carrie: To apply?

Aaron: To apply.

Carrie: Okay.

Aaron: For– for priority. Final deadline is August for transfer.

Carrie: Well look at that! Okay.

Aaron: And then, depending on what term it is, your dates vary.

Carrie: Wonderful.

Aaron: So. And then again, at this site, there’s also gives you the transfer requirements that I just reviewed. So those are there. And then the application is included on this page too. And then also how we evaluate transfer credits.

Carrie: So cool. Yeah, I think all my questions got answered, Aaron.

Aaron: Great!

Carrie: But yeah.

Aaron: Take my card.

Carrie: I have your card right here.

Aaron: You gotta take a pen or sticker.

Carrie: Oh, okay. The Beaver orange. I got it! [laughs]

Aaron: Got to make it worth your while.

Carrie: Absolutely. The swag. It’s all about the swag.

Aaron: You can never have too many pens.

Carrie: No. [laughs]

Aaron: Nice to meet you.

Carrie: You too. Have a great day.

Speaker 3: There was Western. I thought it was for Western. Oh, here’s Western.

Speaker 4: Hi. How are you?

Miguel: Here’s someone for Western. Hello, how’s it going?

Speaker 4: Good. And you?

Miguel: I’m doing great.

Speaker 4: What kind of questions do you have for me today?

Miguel: So I work for the office of disabilities here at PCC, and I’m doing a podcast called Let’s Talk.

Speaker 4: Okay.

Miguel: And oh, my name is Miguel. Nice to meet you.

Speaker 4: Nice to meet you.

Miguel: What’s your name?

Brianna: Brianna.

Miguel: Brianna. Nice to meet you, Brianna. And so I just want to know: What resources do you have for transfer students?

Brianna: So we have all our resources are for our incoming freshmen transfer students it’s the same thing. We have our first students are first generation. We have the Multicultural Student Services and support. We also have Student Enrichment Program. We also have Teachers’ Preps and Preparation. We also have our clubs’ organizations. We have our Office of Disability. We have our Honors Program.

Miguel: Do you guys have any disability clubs?

Brianna: Yeah, clubs, I believe we don’t. Students have not created it, so it’s based on our students if they want to create it. But we do have our Office of Disability that it’s really good to work with our students.

Miguel: Okay.

Brianna: Yeah. So we have a little bit of everything to be honest with you.

Miguel: Okay.

Brianna: It’s a smaller school, but we have a little bit of everything.

Miguel: Okay.

Brianna: Yeah.

Miguel: What do you guys– do you have like a scholarship students can apply for?

Brianna: Yes. So we have scholarships. We have– our biggest one is our Diversity Commitment Scholarship. That one is $6,000. As a transfer student, it renews for two to three years. As an incoming freshman, it’s four to five years.

Miguel: Okay.

Brianna: And then we also have another scholarship. It’s the Bi-lingual Teacher Scholarship or the Diverse Teacher Scholarship. So that one is $3,000 for incoming freshmen. It’s $3,000, renewable for four years and then transfer students, two years.

Miguel: Okay.

Brianna: Yeah. And then we have our merit based one too that is– it’s $2,500, if you have a 3.5 GPA as well. And it renews every year as well. You just have to maintain a 3.5 at Western.

Miguel: Okay.

Brianna: Yeah.

Miguel: When is your deadlines?

Brianna: So March 1st.

Miguel: March 1st.

Brianna: So, right now it’s like students are trying to apply to get it because our scholarships deadline is March 1st.

Miguel: Okay, gotcha…

Brianna: Yeah.

Miguel: And are those like rolling bases or the scholarship you have to apply separately?

Brianna: You have to be a– you have to be– you have to apply to Western first, and then get it once you’re admitted. You activate your report and then you can apply for a scholarship.

Miguel: Oh, awesome.

Brianna: Yeah. Would you like some paperwork? Would you like to take some paperwork or not?

Miguel: Yeah, I’ll take some paperwork.

Brianna: Okay, here we go.

Speaker 2: [indistinct]

Brianna: What was that?

Speaker 2: I was just gonna go to the [indistinct] office.

Brianna: Okay. Yes. Yeah. Oh, Good. Yeah. So this one’s approaching this– it’s this month. It’s approaching pretty soon, so we’re trying to have students apply for it.

Miguel: Yeah.

Brianna: We have a few right now, but not a lot. We’re just like, we want students to apply for it. But yeah.

Miguel: So thank you.

Brianna: Yeah, you’re welcome. It was nice meeting you.

Miguel: It was nice meeting you, too.

Carrie: Hi! Can I talk to you guys about transferring?

Scott: No.

Carrie: Please! [laughs] I’m also recording for a podcast about student culture at PCC. Is that okay?

Scott: Yeah.

Carrie: [laughs] Yeah, so cool, guys. Tell us about University of Oregon.

Scott: Yeah. So we are located in Eugene, Oregon, about two hours south of here.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: We are a liberal arts institution, meaning that students will have the ability to take classes in all different areas of study. And it’s not just going to focus on their major, which is really nice. We want to make sure that our students are well rounded and have information and opportunities in different areas of study.

Carrie: Yeah.

Scott: And do you have like questions about majors?

Carrie: I’m on a communications track right now?

Scott: Okay.

Carrie: I’m interested in journalism.

Scott: Okay.

Carrie: And I like University of Oregon, because you guys have a lot of Pulitzer Prize winners coming out of your school.

Scott: Second oldest journalism school in the nation.

Carrie: Yeah. So I’m really interested for journalism. What sort of, I guess competition? Or what sort of like, rigor is there to get into that program? Is there a lot of…?

Scott: So the School of Journalism has their own kind of admissions requirements for their program.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: So you’re looking at a 2.9 GPA, and a certain amount of credits that you need to have before you can actually declare an official journalism major. So you would come in as pre-journalism.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: And there are, because we have the only credentialed, certified— I’m forgetting the word– the word– the proper wordage here, but the School of Journalism is the only certified in the state.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: And so a certain amount of credits that you can take are– have to be taken at the U of O.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: Like their lower division courses are courses you have to take there.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: There’s three introductory courses: Journalism 100, 101, and Journalism. 201.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: Yeah. Here’s the requirements there.

Carrie: Oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Okay, thank you. So we’re looking at J100, Media Professions, J101, Grammar for Communicators– I would probably like that class– and Media and Society, J201. Minimum GPA, 2.9. And then Writing 121 and 122, College Comp I and II. Um, that’s very interesting. So there’s kind of a little bit more of a weeding out process to go… It sounds like it might be a tough program.

Scott: I mean, yeah, I mean, they just want to make sure that student is the right fit.

Carrie: Yeah.

Scott: The students that are going into it, right?

Carrie: Do you see a lot of people switch majors after going through the lower-level courses or…

Scott: And so I’m a generalist advisor so I don’t work specifically with the School of Journalism. But I know that they would love to talk to prospective students and their advising– their advisors. And so they could probably tell you a little bit more about what that looks like. I will say, if you transferred in the fall term.

Carrie: Yeah.

Scott: They offer a journalism 399 transfer seminar course.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: And it’s a one credit course. But it’s pretty awesome. And it’s– they’ve done some, like, run some numbers on it, and students that take– that take that course, tend to have a higher success rate in the program.

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: So that’s one thing I tell students, if they’re transferring, you know, especially for journalism, a fall transfer could be more beneficial so that you can take that one credit course. It gives you a sense of community, you’re able to like look into career options with journalism and really get a good sense of what the program is all about. But like I said, their advisors are wonderful. And as a prospective student, you can always reach out and make an appointment with one of their advisors to talk more about it.

Carrie: That sounds amazing. And I’ll probably do that. [laughs]

Scott: Yeah. Here’s one of my cards. Feel free to reach out to me and I can get you in contact with them.

Carrie: Thank you. Thank you, Scott. I’m Carrie, by the way.

Scott: Nice to meet you, Carrie.

Carrie: Nice to meet y’all. And you are Caleb. Oh, that’s my brother’s name!

Caleb: Yeah, awesome. With a C?

Carrie: With a C. Yeah.

Caleb: Good.

Carrie: It’s the only way. It’s the only way.

Caleb: Exactly.

Carrie: Same thing with K Carrie’s. Same thing with K Carrie’s. Right. So I’m recording this podcast for Accessible Education Disability Resources.

Caleb: Awesome.

Carrie: Can you guys talk to me about disability culture on your campus and access services, stuff like that?

Scott: Yeah, so we have the Accessible Education Center. It’s our main Disability Resource Center on campus. And so students are able to access those services, talk to a disability counselor and get testing, if needed, have accommodations provided, if needed, all of those things are available for students. So, again, another resource that you can schedule an– I’d say, beneficial to schedule an appointment with somebody there prior to arriving

Carrie: Okay.

Scott: Because the process can take a little bit of time in terms of, you know, if testing is needed, or documentation is needed, and all of those things to make sure that by the time you start your classes, that you have your accommodations in place.

Carrie: Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool. And what about the application process? What’s that like? Do you guys– what’s kind of deadlines?

Caleb: Yeah, so the sheet that I just handed you and I know, for your listeners, for fall, the deadline is going to be March 15 for the priority deadline.

Carrie: Okay.

Caleb: So we have two different deadlines for our transfer students for the fall. So Priority is March 15th. Regular decision is going to be June 1st. If you’re looking at hitting the priority deadline, we just need your official transcripts sent by April 1. So students that I’m working with, if they’re taking a winter term, I usually suggest having official transcripts sent over once those grades are posted, so you don’t have to send them over, you know, two, three, four times, at the end of each term. And then you can kind of see the different dates there for the different start terms as well. So pretty easy process. There’s no admission essay that’s required. It’s just filling out the application, your education history on there, letting us know– making sure you’re meeting our course requirements, as well. And then we just need your official transcripts to get you admitted. So we’ll run a credit evaluation for you, let you know how many credits transferred over, what requirements those met, and then for the degree that students are looking at, what requirements are left to complete, which is nice. Yeah, it’s a pretty, pretty easy process. There is an application fee of $65, but there’s a lot of options on there to waive that fee as well.

Carrie: You said credit evaluation and I panicked for a hot second. I’m like, “A credit score. What?!” [laughs]

Caleb: I always try to think of a different word to say but…

Scott: A credit score of 700 or higher.

Carrie: That is a good segue though, into the cost of admission and tuition. And what sort of scholarships, grants do you guys have available to apply for?

Caleb: Yeah, definitely. So on the brochure that you have –this one– will have some of the pricing and this is for last year.

Carrie: Okay.

Caleb: So on this page, it will give you that pricing. It’s actually a little bit higher. So it’s around $15,000 for tuition and fees, just the base tuition and fees. That’s estimated at a student taking 15 credits per term.

Carrie: Okay.

Caleb: Now, housing costs, we do offer resident halls, we have university apartments as well. And then we partner with our local apartments around the– our community to do off campus housing too. So we can kind of help transfer students. If they are wanting more of a connection, we can help with that in terms of making sure that they’re taken care of for housing purposes and not having to do it on their own. We also have off campus housing. So it just kind of depends on what they’re looking at, but it’s gonna be around $15,000. And then, for scholarship purposes, on the back of this one sheet that I gave you, on the bottom, it has the general university scholarship that transfer students can apply for as well as the Diversity Excellence scholarship that they can apply for. You’ll see the dates on there are coming up in March, for those applications for the fall. And then the School of Journalism, specifically for you in terms of what you’re looking at, they also have specific scholarships that you can apply for. And then for students, you know, just generally– generally, our departments will also have scholarships, and Scott’s kind of showing some of those options there for the School of Journalism for you.

Scott: Yeah.

Carrie: Ohhh…

Scott: So for scholarships for School of Journalism…

Carrie: Oh, it’s past. Okay.

Scott: And so this is all on their website. The internet is kind of slow right now.

Carrie: It’s Cascade Campus. Welcome. [laughs]

Scott: And I’m using like the guest one. I feel like the guest ones are always a little bit slower for some reason. But anyways, yeah, like all of this information is on their website. So I know there are specific School of Journalism communications.

Caleb: Because right now you’re Communications.

Carrie: Yes.

Caleb: And so all of our, like communications-related majors, including Journalism, Communications, there’s also like Media Studies, Public Relations and those kinds of things as well. So just other things to potentially look at when you’re when you’re looking at their– their options.

Carrie: Okay, cool.

Caleb: Still thinking…

Carrie: It’ll think for a minute, that’s okay. I’ll do some thinking too. And I’ll be able to research on my own. But thank you both so much for talking to me today [laughs] and for agreeing to be recorded. That’s really nice.

Caleb: Oh yeah. No problem. Glad we were able to help.

Carrie: It’s called Let’s Talk. It’s about students experiencing disabilities on campus and student culture.

Caleb: Cool. Right on.

Carrie: Thanks so much.

Caleb: I’ll look into it.

Carrie: Okay. I’ll take the card and email it to you when it’s done.

Caleb: Please do.

Speaker 5: How’s it going?

Miguel: I’m good. How are you?

Speaker 5: Doing well. Doing well. How’s school been going for you so far?

Miguel: Oh… Very stressful. But I’m doing good.

Speaker 5: Yeah, what kind of programs are you interested in?

Miguel: I’m a business major.

Speaker 5: Oh, cool. Awesome. Are you looking for, like, a campus experience or online experience?

Miguel: I mean, unfortunately, I can’t afford to live on a campus right now. [laughs]

Speaker 5: Yeah.

Miguel: But I’m– my name is Miguel.

Speaker 5: Nice to meet you.

Miguel: I work for the Office of Accessibility. So I’m– we’re just walking around asking, you know – We’re doing a podcast called Let’s Talk. And so I’m just asking universities about what they have to offer for transfer students.

Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. So we have– we don’t have out-of-state tuition difference, so students that go to GCU are paying the same as students that are from Arizona, because we’re a private university.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 5: Generally speaking, we try and be very transfer friendly from a credit standpoint. Our business programs, especially, are relatively transfer friendly. When you get into some of the STEM programs, it becomes a little more difficult, just because there’s more specific classes that are required for those degrees. And so it’s just kind of–

Miguel: I’m taking your lighter. [laughs]

Speaker 5: Yes, go for it. The more stuff you can take, the less I have to pack up. I’ve got Hershey’s and pens and stuff too if you want any of those goodies. But yeah, so for transfer students, we also can do free unofficial transcript evaluations for whatever degrees students are interested in. So we want to just make the process easy and less stressful for students.

Miguel: Do you guys have any scholarships you offer?

Speaker 5: We do. So we have academic scholarships, that range between $1,150 all the way up to $6,150 per year. Our tuition is $16,500 per year. And again, that’s not any different for in-state or out-of-state. And the academic scholarship kind of depends on what your GPA is: as low as a 2.25, or as high as a 4.0.

Miguel: Oh, okay.

Speaker 5: Yeah. And those are just like the academic institutional scholarship. There’s early registration scholarships, and then there’s resources we have for external scholarships that students can apply for as well.

Miguel: And where can– can students apply for them before they are accepted into the university? Or does it have to be after for the…

Speaker 5: Yeah, good question. So as long– generally speaking, as long as you have a GPA that’s admissible, you’ll be conditionally accepted to the university. And so at that point, you can kind of lock in that academic scholarship and explore outside scholarships as well.

Miguel: Okay. Oh, when are the deadlines?

Speaker 5: So yeah, good question. Um, the outside scholarships kind of have different deadlines, depending on the individual scholarship. Academic scholarships, we are rewarding students with those, you know, up until the point when they start on campus, and we’ve got the official transcript on file.

Miguel: Do you guys have business majors online?

Speaker 5: Yes, yeah. We have a lot of our different business programs are also offered online in addition to campus.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 5: Good question.

Miguel: What’s the deadline for applications?

Speaker 5: So we have a rolling acceptance. And so students are able to apply, you know, all the way up until the start of the school year in September. Even a little bit after the start of the school year, potentially, students can still apply, get accepted, and start that same semester.

Miguel: Nice.

Speaker 5: Yeah.

Miguel: Well, thank you so much. For more information, what’s– what’s your guys’ website, so people can go and find it?

Speaker 5: Yeah, so the website is just going to be GCU.edu.

Miguel: Awesome.

Speaker 5: And it’s going to take you right to our main page.

Miguel: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much.

Speaker 5: Yeah. You’re welcome.

Hannah: Hello.

Miguel: Hi, there. How’s it going?

Hannah: Good, how are you today?

Miguel: I’m doing good. So my name is Miguel, it’s nice to meet you.

Hannah: Nice to meet you. Yeah, I’m Hannah.

Miguel: Hannah, nice to meet you. So I work with the office of accessibility. And so I’m working on today just asking different university for what they have to offer for students.

Hannah: Yeah, so our primary programs are going to be our doctorate in naturopathic medicine, and our classical Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Those are graduate programs. However, we do offer three completions, so transfer degrees to our institution, which would be Bachelor’s in Nutrition, integrative health science, and then we have an accelerated bachelor’s to master’s. So, primarily medical-inclined folks usually attend our university. We’re just more like a holistic approach to nutrition.

Miguel: Nice, and what is the transfer process?

Hannah: So basically, students need to get their two-year degree—like, courses done at a community college. So 90 quart – Yeah, PCC is a quarter system, so 90-quarter credits, in addition to our list of prerequisite courses. So I do have like, a list of them that’s like a cheat sheet for checklists for the students. Would you like that? The materials? For transfer students?

Miguel: Sure.

Hannah: Okay, great. I’ll just give a little pile of the programs.

Speaker 6: Just give him some swag, you know. [laughs]

Hannah: Here you go.

Miguel: Thank you.

Hannah: There you go.

Miguel: And then what’s your deadline for transfer credits?

Hannah: So we’re actually – May 1st is like the general ones. But we’re looking for undergrad programs for transfers extending it to possibly June.

Miguel: Okay.

Hannah: Just because a lot of students are doing their finals up until June here.

Miguel: Yeah.

Hannah: So that’s going to be “To be announced.”

Miguel: Just check the website for more information?

Hannah: Yes.

Miguel: Go to –

Hannah: Exactly.

Miguel: Okay, awesome.

Hannah: And then, yeah, I think that’s kind of, like, a good introduction to our program. If you have any students that are interested in public health, we also have a master’s degree in that.

Miguel: Awesome! Well, thank you so much for allowing me to ask you questions.

Hannah: Yeah!

Miguel: So nice to meet you, Hannah!

Hannah: Nice to meet you as well, Miguel.

Miguel: This is Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Speaker 7: Hey there.

Miguel: Hey, how’s it going?

Speaker 7: Pretty good. How are you doing?

Miguel: I’m good!

Speaker 7: Good, good. Yeah. Have you heard of PNCA before?

Miguel: I have not, but I work for the Office of Accessibility.

Speaker 7: Okay, gotcha.

Miguel: So I’m doing a podcast called Let’s Talk.

Speaker 7: Oh, right on.

Miguel: So the podcast is just basically asking universities, you know, about the transfer process.

Speaker 7: Yeah, totally.

Miguel: You know, how can students –

Speaker 7: For sure, yeah. I’d be happy to give you a little overview here.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 7: So yeah, we do have a transfer partnership with PCC here. So we actually have a pathway built out. This has all of the info about just, like, the kind of pathway you can follow to transfer into PNCA. For students that are on that pathway, they’ll receive an additional $5,000 upon acceptance. And it’s just a total of 90 quarter credits here at PCC to transfer over to PNCA. And let’s see, what else… Every accepted student at our college receives a scholarship upon acceptance that starts at $18,000 a year, and that goes all the way up to full tuition coverage just based on the strength of the artwork that you apply with. So we do require some artwork to apply to our college since we are a visual arts college. And yeah, we have 11 BFA programs in pretty much all the visual arts, like illustration, photography, sculpture, general fine arts, creative writing – there’s quite a few in there. Do you have any specific questions about any of our programs or anything?

Miguel: Not at the moment. What is the application deadline?

Speaker 7: Yeah, so our application deadlines for this fall have actually already passed. Our priority deadline was actually February 1st, and then our early application deadline was back on November 15th. But those deadlines will still apply for future students, so if there’s any students that are applying for, like, fall 2024, that February 1st deadline is still good to shoot for.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 7: And we are actually rolling admissions, so if we do have students that are interested in coming this fall, you can actually still apply all the way up until classes start in September, so…

Miguel: Awesome, yeah! Well, thank you so much. What is your name?

Speaker 7: Yeah. Thank you for stopping by. My name’s Jackson. So good to meet you.

Miguel: Jackson, I’m Miguel.

Jackson: Thank you for stopping by. I really appreciate you.

Miguel: Let’s make a stop here at Pacific University of Oregon. Hello!

Speaker 8: Hello!

Speaker 9: I see you’re making your rounds.

Miguel: I am.

Speaker 9: What are you interested in studying?

Miguel: I’m a business major, but right now, I’m doing a podcast for the Office of Accessibility called Let’s Talk. And so I’m just asking, you know, what resources there are to offer for transfer students.

Speaker 9: Yeah, so our Office of Accommodation – Accessibility and Accommodation – would work with the student directly to make sure that they were getting what they need. So it really is dependent on what the student’s looking for and what level of support, and then they can help with that. But we’re able to really work with students wherever and whatever they need in that process. As far as the business side, we have really great opportunities with that. It’s one of our more popular majors, but you still get the small class sizes.

Miguel: Is it all in person?

Speaker 9: It’s in person.

Miguel: Okay, yeah.

Speaker 9: So we even have somebody that we work with that’s unique. So I have my MBA – We didn’t have this in my program. We have somebody who makes sure that you’re internship-ready. It actually helps secure the internships in the areas of business you’re interested in.

Miguel: Oh, nice.

Speaker 9: Yeah, so one of my student workers is a freshman and interned at Amazon, Tesla, and a major financial institution.

Miguel: Oh, very cool.

Speaker 9: And he decided to not do any of those, because he’s like, “Nope, I’m going to go small business.” He had multiple job offers by the time he had graduated. So it is a good option for being able to really see future avenues working with people through that process.

Miguel: And what’s the application process? Is it rolling, are there deadlines?

Speaker 9: Rolling, so the sooner you apply, the better. There is no application fee; we completely waive it to increase the opportunity for students. And then all you would have to do is order your official transcripts from MyPCC and have them sent directly to us.

Miguel: How many credits can you transfer over?

Speaker 9: We’ll transfer as many as you bring in. You still have to meet residency, which is the last 30 to 45 and major requirements. So normally, if a student’s getting an associate’s – Are you AAOT or ASOT?

Miguel: I have an associate’s degree in general studies.

Speaker 9: Okay.

Miguel: But I changed my major to business, so I have, like, more than 100 class credits. [laughs]

Speaker 9: Okay, so yeah, we would just evaluate all those credits and line up with our core curriculum, our major, as well as our general electives; and we can actually give you a timeline to completion before you even apply. So if you want to see if it’s viable and if it lines up with what you want, then we can do that.

Miguel: Do you offer transfer scholarships, and how can students apply for those?

Speaker 9: Yes, so we have transfer scholarships; they range between $20,000 and $30,000 per year. That’s the merit scholarship; it’s automatically tied to admission. So if you submit your application, I’m the one who’s reviewing it.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 9: This voice right here. So we’re going to hammer that out. If you have any questions on the process, you’re also welcome to reach out to me. We do the merit scholarships based on overall academic performance. How’s your GPA?

Miguel: I have under 3.0, but I’ve had a lot of circumstances that have been really hard for me.

Speaker 9: Yeah, so we would just talk about that, and then I can take those forward, and we can get those considered.

Miguel: But I’m really, like, involved with students, and I work for the Office of Accessibility. Yeah, I’m doing it all at Eastern Oregon, so I made the very first accessibility club there.

Speaker 8: That’s awesome.

Miguel: I work for the student-run newspaper… so I do a little bit of everything.

Speaker 9: Yeah.

Miguel: I’m Vice President of the National Society of Leadership and Success.

Speaker 9: Very good. [Miguel chuckles]

Speaker 8: That’s a lot going on!

Speaker 9: Yeah, a lot of things happening, and we see students that are involved like that fit in really well here. So we have over 65 clubs and organizations on campus, and our average student is involved in four or more on campus.

Miguel: Do you guys have any disability clubs?

Speaker 9: I don’t know if we have any disability clubs,

but I will tell you this: if it’s something you’re interested in starting, get six students, and I will sign off on it. I will be your advisor. I do work with – so one of the groups that we do have on campus that works with individuals with disabilities, it’s a partnership with Special Olympics, and our students work with community members in peer-to-peer sport.

Miguel: All right.

Speaker 9: And so –

Miguel: I like to have – I mean, I love having people, you know, they’re working with the accessibility office. But I think what’s really important for people to know is, like, people that work outside of that office should also get those experiences.

Speaker 9: Yeah.

Miguel: That’s really important.

Speaker 9: So I have friends that had come through and they were athletes, baseball players, and they said, “Okay, well, I’ll go and help out with this group.” I have friends that are doing it. They ended up changing their major and are now special education teachers, because they had never – it was never even in their view that there was ever an interest in it, and now they’re working with some of some of the students that nobody else is really looking to work with. And he’s – Wyatt’s like, “I’ll take them; I’ll take them all.” So…

Miguel: I know how that feels. I grew up in a small town where I had a lack of resources.

Speaker 9: Which town?

Miguel: I grew up in eastern Washington.

Speaker 9: Which town in eastern Washington?

Miguel: It’s called Mason City; there’s, like, nothing out there.

Speaker 9: Mason City. I have heard of it.

Miguel: I went to school in Connell. I graduated from Connell High.

Speaker 9: Okay. Yeah, I don’t – I’ve traveled all over eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, but I have not been there. [laughs]

Miguel: There’s not much out there, for sure. [laughs]

Speaker 9: Yeah, very good. Well, thanks for swinging by the table. And if there’s anything else we can help with, please let us know, okay?

Miguel: So, if students have more info, where can they go to get more info? What’s your website?

Speaker 9: So our website, that’s PacificU.edu/transfer. All of that information is transfer-specific.

Miguel: Awesome.

Speaker 9: And when you said, “How do transfers do?” Twenty percent of our students are transfers, so –

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 9: That’s twice what our closest peer is. [laughs]

Miguel: And what’s your name?

Emily (Speaker 8): I’m Emily.

Miguel: Emily, nice to meet you. I’m Miguel.

Emily: Nice to meet you.

Justin (Speaker 9): I’m Justin.

Miguel: Very nice to meet you, Justin.

Justin: Yup!

Miguel: Hey, there. How’s it going?

Karen: Doing well. How are you?

Miguel: I’m good. So my name is Miguel. I work for the Office of Accessibility at PCC.

Karen: It’s good to meet you. I’m Karen from Lewis and Clark.

Miguel: Good to meet you, too. We’re doing a podcast called Let’s Talk. So my coworkers and I, we’re working on just kind of giving out resources to students, and so I came today to talk to all the universities to see what they all have to offer. So, what do you guys have to offer? [laughs]

Karen: Well, are you wondering just in terms of academic programs or as a college as a whole? Like, what exactly are you looking for?

Miguel: Academic transfer.

Karen: Okay.

Miguel: Student culture.

Karen: Okay.

Miguel: A little bit of everything. [laughs]

Karen: Okay, wow.

[Miguel laughs]

Karen: Okay, so, Lewis and Clark is a small, traditional liberal arts and sciences institution. We have just over 2,100 students, so that means classes tend to be pretty small; we average about 17, 18 students per class. We’re very traditional liberal arts and sciences, so the academic programs that we offer tend to focus on fairly traditional subject areas – so art, humanities, social sciences, math, and natural sciences. We’re a primarily residential community, so most students will spend their whole four years living on campus. We do see transfer students each year, probably about 50 to 60 transfer students who enroll. So that’s not a huge number, but in our small population, it’s a pretty significant number for us. We see transfers both from two-year and four-year institutions. We work with them on a very individualized basis to make sure that they’re understanding how their transfer credits are going to work and how they’re going to integrate within the community. So we really embrace that small college approach of really developing interpersonal relationships and supporting students during their time at Lewis and Clark.

Miguel: What is your deadline for your transfer students? Do you guys have scholarships you guys provide?

Karen: Absolutely, yeah. So we don’t have a hard cutoff deadline for transfer applications. We say we’ll work with students for as long as we have space available in the entering class. Generally, once we get into April, May, that’s when the class starts filling up, so we say April 1st is probably the latest you would want to complete your application for admission. Scholarships are available to incoming transfer students. For this year, they’re ranging from about $10,000 to $30,000 per year. They’re renewable for the entire time that students are at our college. All students need to do to be considered for those is apply for admission before that April 1st deadline; there’s not a separate scholarship. Miguel. Oh, wow. And then, what’s your process for your accessibility office in terms of accommodations, or –

Karen: Yeah, so our Office for Student Accessibility is kind of the main go-to for students, no matter whether they have a physical disability, if they have a documented learning difference, or if they break their leg and just need some help getting around on campus, that’s kind of the go-to office. They provide all sorts of services, whether that’s just testing, whether that’s note-takers, whether that’s just help communicating with faculty, extended time for testing, they’re the go-to office for that.

Miguel: So, for the scholarships, do they also cover room and board and stuff like that?

Karen: Yeah, so our cost of attending Lewis and Clark – So keep in mind, we’re a private institution, so this figure is going to seem fairly shocking. Tuition and fees, room and board, some money for personal expenses, and everything all together this year is going to be about $76,000, $77,000. We do not have a $77,000 scholarship at Lewis and Clark [laughs], but we do offer quite a bit of need-based financial aid that can be stacked with those academic scholarships, so it is possible that that cost of attending can be covered between scholarships and things like grants and loans and student employment.

Miguel: Do you guys have any programs for first gen students?

Karen: So we don’t have, like, an office for first or first gen students, but I certainly worked for our office for IME, or Office for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement. So working with first gen students is definitely part of what they do.

Miguel: Awesome! Well, thank you so much! It was so nice to meet you.

Karen: It was great to meet you as well!

Miguel: Thank you.

Karen: Yeah, absolutely!

Miguel: So this one is Linfield… Hi there, guys!

Speaker 10: Hi, how are you?

Speaker 11: Hi, how are you?

Miguel: I’m fine! [laughs] How are you?

Speaker 10: Fine!

Speaker 11: Did you have specific questions about Linfield? Or is there a specific major that you’re looking to study?

Miguel: So I actually work for the Office of Accessibility.

Speaker 11: Okay.

Miguel: So I’m doing a podcast called Let’s Talk.

Speaker 11: Yeah.

Miguel: And so I’m asking universities, you know, what they have to offer for students that are transferring.

Speaker 11: Yes, so we have a Learning Support Services Office that can provide accommodations for the classroom, for housing, and then for anything else that you might need on campus.

Miguel: Uh-huh.

Speaker 11: Our director is Jeff, and he oversees making sure that students get all their accommodations. Students, once they receive a decision, can start working with that office. So, like, if they’ve been admitted, you can make sure that everything is set up before you start classes.

Miguel: Do you guys have any transfer scholarships, or what are your deadlines?

Speaker 11: Yes, so we offer transfer scholarships. This year, they’re $21,000 to $25,000 for students at the McMinnville campus based just off their GPA from the schools that they’re transferring from, or their overall status and GPA.

Miguel: What’s the GPA requirement?

Speaker 11: To be admitted?

Miguel: Yeah.

Speaker 11: So we don’t specifically have, like, a minimum GPA to be admitted. We do holistic application review, so we’ll look at how you did in classes, but then there’s also writing sections on the essay – so an essay and a shorter writing sample – and then it’s not required to submit a letter of recommendation, but we do also consider that as well.

Miguel: Okay. When do you guys have a deadline to transfer?

Speaker 11: So for the fall, it’s April 15th. And then we also do spring semester acceptances, and that’s usually, I think, like December 15th.

Miguel: Awesome!

Speaker 11: Yeah.

Miguel: If they have any more questions, where can students go to get more info?

Speaker 11: Sorry, say that one more time?

Miguel: If students have any more questions, where can they get some more info?

Speaker 11: So you can go to Linfield.edu. It’s our website that has information about the transfer process, what’s needed for the application, where to submit documents, as well as all of the counselor information.

Miguel: Awesome. Thank you so much!

Speaker 11: You’re welcome. Thanks for stopping by!

Miguel: Of course! You’re welcome. [talking to himself] This is Southern… This is Western University, it looks like.

Speaker 12: I’d go for Southern.

Miguel: [laughs] All right. Here’s Southern Oregon University in Ashland. How’s it going, man?

Speaker 12: Going all right. How are you doing?

Miguel: I’m doing good!

Speaker 12: Sweet! Well, yeah. Have you heard of Southern before?

Miguel: Well, I work for the Office of Accessibility.

Speaker 12: Oh, okay. Very cool.

Miguel: And we’re doing a podcast called Let’s Talk. So I’m just asking universities questions like… What do you have to offer students who are transferring over if they wanted to transfer to Southern University?

Speaker 12: Sorry, could you repeat that one more time?

Miguel: Like, what do you guys have to offer for students that want to transfer over?

Speaker 12: Oh, yeah. So we have a lot of programs for transfer students. We do have automatic, like, consideration merit scholarships and whatnot for students who want to transfer over. Students are also welcome to apply for our in-house scholarships; we normally have, like, the deadline within March for the following academic year.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 12: We do rolling admissions as well, so students can apply whenever they want. But I always, you know, recommend applying before, like, February or within February, or the spring prior before they want to enter just so they can apply for extra scholarships.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 12: We do scholarship workshops, so students can get walkthroughs and all that stuff. It helps us waive the application fee, so they don’t have to worry about that at all.

Miguel: Gotcha. Do you guys have any online programs?

Speaker 12: We do have online programs. So some of our biggest ones that are really popular would be the business program – like, I always have people referring to that. On our website, we have them distinguished through docs and whatnot, which are the online programs. And so business, early childhood education – those are kind of like our biggest two that pull people in; innovation and leadership are also very popular.

Miguel: Yeah.

Speaker 12: Yeah, so it’s super solid. We do have different supports for students as well.

Miguel: What supports do you guys have?

Speaker 12: We’re really big on a cohort system, so a lot of students who come in, they have the support of a cohort faculty supporting them throughout their academic success.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 12: And then, along with different forms of support, we do case-by-case accommodations for each student, depending on what their needs are and how they want them to be addressed. I think we’re in the top 50 for learning accommodations in the US, so we do try and do, like, everything case-by-case. So it’s not like a uniform accommodation, but the uniform experience is, again, to work with the director or co-director specifically to figure out what their needs are and get those addressed specifically.

Miguel: Awesome! If students want to have more info, where can they go to?

Speaker 12: So they can always go to D.R., which is our support for that – like, just accommodations and in general. And then you can always reach out to admissions counselors. So I’m one of the admissions counselors, and all of our contact information is just put on the pamphlets and on our cards and whatnot.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 12: Yeah, I do have a direct line if you ever have students who are interested in calling me as well if you want to take it down or, you know, whatever you’d like.

Miguel: Okay, yeah; we can take some info down.

Speaker 12: Yeah, sweet.

Miguel: What’s your name?

Tom: My name’s Tom.

Miguel: Tom, nice to meet you. I’m Miguel.

Tom: Nice to meet you. But yeah, so like, I’ll just hand you a bunch of paperwork.

Miguel: Okay.

Tom: There you are. And it has, like, cards and stuff.

Miguel: Thank you.

Tom: Yeah, no problem. [indistinct background chatter]

Miguel: Hello. How’s it going?

Speaker 13: I’m doing good. How are you?

Miguel: I’m doing really well.

Speaker 13: Awesome. What is your name?

Miguel: My name is Miguel.

Maddie: Miguel? Maddie. Nice to meet you!

Miguel: Nice to meet you, Maddie! [laughs]

Maddie: Hello! Awesome! Well, are you taking classes at PCC right now?

Miguel: I am. So I’m actually doing a podcast for the Office of Accessibility.

Maddie: Okay.

Miguel: And so I’m a student advocate there and do student disability work.

Maddie: Yeah.

Miguel: I’m, you know, just walking around just you know, seeing what universities have to offer, what scholarships, deadlines –

Maddie: Yeah.

Miguel: You know, what unique little things you guys have to offer; why should students pick you over –

Maddie: Yeah, of course. Well, so this is George Fox University. We’re located in Newberg, so about 45 minutes from, like, right here. So straight down 99, and you’re there.

Miguel: Yeah. [laughs]

Maddie: We are a private Christian University, and so what our whole hope and, like, prayers are for our students is that you get to experience what we call our “Be Known” promise. And this is a promise to every student at Fox, that they are going to be known personally, academically, and spiritually. You’re not just another number to us on campus. We want to know you for everything that you are; every unique aspect that you bring to our community is so valuable, and we want to get to know that both inside and outside the classroom. And so inside the classroom, what is awesome is that our undergrad population is about 2,400 students, so we are a smaller school. Our average class size is about 20 students; that’s a 16:1 standard faculty ratio, so your professors get to know you. And so I think just that small-feel family value that we have on campus is a huge stand-out to our students, especially when transitioning from a community college. It’s a lot, sometimes, at community college – like, maybe you don’t feel that like relationships with your professors, or there are just so many students that it’s hard to kind of make those connections. So at Fox, we want to make sure that you feel at home as quickly as you can. For the application process, the transfer process, we hope, is as simple as possible. We are on rolling admission, so we don’t quite have a deadline. We always recommend the sooner the better, just to kind of move along the process. Our application is just the online application, and then your official transcripts from your college.

Miguel: Okay. Do you guys have scholarships you provide?

Maddie: Yeah.

Miguel: How can you apply for them? Maddie; Yeah, so we have two really big academic scholarships for transfer students. One is just our academic merit scholarship, which is based off of your cumulative GPA. And this ranges between $6,000 and $13,000. So if you’re accepted, you are receiving anywhere between $6,000 and $13,000 automatically; and that’s an annual scholarship, so you’d have it every year that you’re a student.

Miguel: Nice.

Maddie: What is another big benefit of being a transfer student, specifically from an Oregon community college like PCC, is, if you have a 3.0 cumulative GPA or above, you will also automatically lock in an additional $5,000 annual scholarship. So that is something that you have every year as well.

Miguel: Nice.

Maddie: Two big scholarships right there, and those are just based off academics. You don’t have to do anything else to additionally apply. Those are just automatically awarded as we see that on your application.

Miguel: Thank you so much, Maddie! It was nice to meet you! [laughs]

Maddie: You too! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re always happy to help.

Miguel: Awesome. Where can students get more info? Can they get it on the website if they want to?

Maddie: Yeah, definitely. So we have some flyers and packets that you’re more than welcome to take, but all the information, if you want to do some site searching, it’s all on our website, too.

Miguel: Awesome. Cool. I’ll take a packet, and then we have the Office of Accessibility put it into the show notes so people can have that.

Maddie: Awesome! There you go!

Carrie: Okay, cool. So we’re recording. What’s your name?

Masao Arasato: Aloha, everyone. My name is Masao Arasato, and I’m a transfer counselor at Portland State.

Carrie: Thanks so much for talking with me today.

Masao: Yeah.

Carrie: As I mentioned before, I am interested in transferring, and I’m currently in a communications, like, sort of track. What sort of programs do you have at PSU that are going to be helpful to me?

Masao: So we do have, I think we have a comm major here at PSU. So that’s definitely something that you can do there. But it also depends on what you want to do with the communications degree. Some people use that as a minor, and then they do something like business.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: Or, you know, they go into something like journalism, which is still kind of communications. So if you’re looking for general communications, that will be your best bet; we have a communication major.

Carrie: Is there a journalism field, you said, where you can do a communication minor?

Masao: Inside of our, our world languages, no… Let’s see, let’s see… We’re learning together because I just started here.

Carrie: That’s okay; we are learning together. I’m happy to do that! [laughs]

Masao: We have creative writing. Okay, we have creative writing.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: But maybe not journalism here.

Carrie: That’s okay.

Masao: Yeah, we do have a creative writing or, like, a regular writing major as well.

Carrie: And you guys have a master’s program too, don’t you?

Masao: Yes, we do have lots of master’s degrees here, and so on – Well, you can’t see the sheet, but anything with a capital “M,” I believe, is going to be the master’s.

Carrie: Is going to have a master’s, okay.

Masao: Communications, we also have a master’s in it.

Carrie: Interesting.

Masao: And a minor.

Carrie: Okay, that’s awesome. One of the things I’m definitely interested in is disability access and culture on campus. What’s that like?

Masao: So the cool thing is, at PSU, we have 12 cultural and resource centers on campus.

Carrie: Nice.

Masao: And so we even have to the point where – I love this, because any school or any facility I go to, I will try to find the all-gender restroom, because that’s what I feel comfortable using.

Carrie: Right.

Masao: We even have a document on campus that you can pull up. It shows you where all of the all-gender restrooms are, where all the handy accessible restrooms are, and where all the entrances are, too, for every single building on campus.

Carrie: Oh, cool.

Masao: Well, I have that document saved on my desktop on my phone and my email, so I always pull it up whenever I need to find a restroom or an entrance that I need.

Carrie: That’s nice. It sounds like they’re pretty into, like, building it into the structure of PSU, the accessibility.

Masao: Yeah. For this day, part of our spiel is access.

Carrie: Yeah.

Masao: Access can mean either academic access, financial access, or physical access. Carrie. Right. Have you been to the Disability Resource Center on campus?

Masao: Not yet. So, I’m making my way through all the resource centers; I’m making appointments with them to go visit all of them.

Carrie: Okay, cool. So are you a student at PSU right now?

Masao: No, I’m actually an admission’s counselor, a transfer admissions counselor.

Carrie: Oh, okay.

Masao: So I started my admissions journey at Western Oregon five years ago.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: That’s when I graduated from Western.

Carrie: What do you think of the culture at PSU so far?

Masao: I love it. I mean, you’re also talking to someone who came from a small college town like Western. Polk County is also a lot more conservative.

Carrie: Yeah.

Masao: So being in Portland, I can breathe a little bit.

Carrie: That’s good. [laughs]

Masao: The Cultural Resource Center that we have, the Queer Resource Center on campus, I go visit them.

Carrie: Yeah.

Masao: There’s so much different places, there’s so much queer outlets for me.

Carrie: That’s really cool.

Masao: I can really just stretch out my legs.

Carrie: Yay! What sort of opportunities do you know of?

Masao: Our biggest one for transfer students? So 60% of our students are transfer students at PSU.

Carrie: Yeah.

Masao: So we have our Transfers Finish Free program, basically, if people are Pell-eligible. That’s the biggest one that a lot of students have a hard time reaching. But the other ones kind of fall into place if you’re an Oregon resident, first time to PSU, full-time at PSU when you attend. If you meet all those requirements, then you can get free tuition here at PSU.

Carrie: Oh, wow.

Masao: How it works is, after your financial aid and scholarships go in, any remaining balance is waived; it’s going to be free.

Carrie: Wow, okay.

Masao: But these are only going to be for Pell-eligible students.

Carrie: Okay, yeah. What’s this other one on top here? “Four Years Free?”

Masao: Four Years Free is going to be for our incoming freshmen.

Carrie: Oh, okay.

Masao: So if you’re a high school student, same thing: Pell eligibility, you’re an Oregon resident, you graduated from an Oregon high school, you’re starting in the fall. That’s the only difference. The transfers, they can start anytime: fall, winter, spring. For incoming freshmen, they have to start in the fall to get the Four Years Free. The transfer is free; after the financial aid and scholarships, everything is waived after that. Transfers Finish Free is good for three years; Four Years Finish Free is good for four.

Carrie: What’s the Rose City Scholarship?

Masao: The Rose City Scholarship is for students that maybe don’t hit the other scholarships, but this one is going to be for incoming freshmen. And then they have to be first-time students to PSU starting in the fall as well. But then, like I said, be an Oregon high school resident, and I think I think they can get it if they’re not Pell-eligible, but they still have to have some sort of EFC requirements.

Carrie: Okay. And, like, as far as entrance applications and applications to the scholarships, accessibility forms, filling out, stuff like that –

Masao: Yeah.

Carrie: Do you guys offer services to make that an easy, accessible experience?

Masao: Yeah, so I don’t know if we have, like, a specific service for it, but if any of the folks look online, you can see where your admissions counselor is, and then we can help you fill out the application. We do that all the time; we can screen share. Some students like to come down to the campus; we can set up a laptop and you can do it right there. I’ve had students do that before.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: For any of the students applying, when you folks apply, when you’re going to pay, there are going to be a bunch of checkboxes. If you folks type in the PSU – or check the PSU waiver, email the admissions office so we can put in a waiver for you to get it for free, so you don’t have to pay the $60 application fee.

Carrie: Oh, nice.

Masao: Yeah, so that’s always an option. And so I always tell my students two pieces of advice when applying for colleges: one, don’t wait to apply.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: Because why do people wait? By December you should be have gotten into or applied to all of your colleges, because by January you have to start applying for scholarships. That’s more important.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: Second, you’re applying to college to go to school.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: Think of it as a party. or like a birthday party. You can’t go to every single birthday party, but you want to get all the party experience. [Carrie laughs]

Masao: And you want to get in early because then when you get all your party invitations, then you got to figure out who’s giving you the best goodie bag, right? Who has the best goodies that you come into the party, because I’m not going to some party and not getting a goodie bag.

Masao: So then you got to see who gives you the best goodie bag. So that’s why you have to get into your colleges early because you want to see your goodie bag: you want to see your financial aid package, you want to see – you want to research on their accessibility, their requirements, all the stuff of the things that you have at the school.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: Then when you find your goodie bag that you like the best.

Carrie: Yeah.

Masao: Definitely choose that’s the party you’re going to.

Carrie: I love it. I love it. I love it. One last question. Do you – do you live downtown?

Masao: Yes, I do live.

Carrie: What do you think of the – what do you think of the environment downtown around PSU campus?

Masao: I always tell my students it is a lot because it’s right in downtown Portland. There’s going to be lots of strangers walking around, strangers living on the streets, maybe even downtown Portland. But my biggest thing for them is, if you don’t bother them, they’re not going to bother you.

Carrie: Okay.

Masao: I always tell a lot of people, “People should just mind their own business. We’d have a much happier world.”

Carrie: Yeah.

Masao: But that’s kind of the same thing wherever you are. Right? If you just worry about yourself if you’re just walking down the street. Again, I walk down in my four-inch heels and my makeup on sometimes and my blouse. No one seems to bother me.

Carrie: Good.

Masao: I’m not bothering nobody.

Carrie: Yeah.

Masao: I just follow my own advice.

Carrie: That’s just good to hear about there’s good campus safety. Yeah, that’s important.

Masao: Then we have 24/7 campus safety on campus. We also have an escort program. If anyone needs to be escorted anywhere on campus, that can also work. And then even on campus, we have emergency cell phones that you can pick up and go straight to our public safety department.

Carrie: Oh, cool. Awesome. Miss Sale?

Masao: Masao.

Carrie: Masao, thank you so much for correcting me. And for talking with me today.

Masao: Yeah, always happy to help.

Carrie: I’m gonna take this literature.

Carrie: Have a good one.

Masao: Please do.

Masao: You too.

Miguel: Hello there.

Miguel: Hey, how’s it going?

Miguel: Well. And yourself?

MistyQ: I’m doing good.

Miguel: Oh cool. I work at the Office of Accessibility. And so we do a podcast for the accessibility to see how it fits and we uh – I’m walking around today asking to see what resources you guys have to offer. My name is Miguel, by the way.

MistyQ: Nice to meet you. My name is MistyQ.

Miguel: It’s nice to meet you.

MistyQ: Thank you. So in terms of the resources that we do have available on campus, we have a lot of the administrative resources, a lot of the academic advisement, Office of Student Disability Services. We have mental health, psychiatric ward – not ward. Sorry. Our office, so we do have a lot of counseling. We have the students who are of the LGBTQ community, so we do have centers for them, and the resources that they may need in terms of like counseling as well, or safe spaces. Students of color. We do have a lot of clubs and organizations for those of their particular, you know –

Miguel: Demographic?

MistyQ: Demographic, thank you. I was looking for the word. But yeah, we have like a myriad of resources that are available. In terms of like students who come from far away from West to East. There’s a lot more resources that are available for those who transition into New York a lot more safely. As far as job placement, finding housing, kind of like stipend scholarships and grants are afforded to students who are traveling from afar to come to New York to go to school.

Miguel: Yeah.

MistyQ: Yeah.

Miguel: How was the discussion about – when do you guys stop accepting scholarship and transferring…

MistyQ: Once the application pool is finished. So we do have three application pools that we do. And each one of them – so say if you were to apply for this fall term, right? January 15th, March 1st, and then May 15th. And the sooner you apply, this is how soon that you want to get your decision.

Miguel: Awesome. And then like, do you guys have like either an essay to get into the school or…

MistyQ: Yes, there is. So it was about 1500 words or 2000 words. Our school in particular is a school of General Studies here for undergraduate programs at Columbia University altogether, the all-girls school, Barnard, Columbia College is the one most people know about. Then we have the School of Engineering, and then you have my school, which is GS. GS deals with students who have had a year or more break in their education at some point after high school. So whether they have gone straight into college and then had a year break or whatever, or they had a break prior to coming into school, and they feel like they’re ready to join into the realm of academia. So that’s what we kind of deal with. We deal with the ones who only come part time…

Miguel: Yeah.

MistyQ: Second degree students, veterans. Yeah.

Miguel: Hey for the scholarships, can anyone apply for those?

MistyQ: Yeah.

Miguel: So like I want to transfer from Portland all the way to, you know, New York.

MistyQ: Yeah.

Miguel: What resources can I use?

MistyQ: So if you’re a part of the Honor Society, so I’m not financially counseling [indistinct] right now. I don’t like putting my foot in my mouth. So in terms of what scholarships are available, I can’t fully say, but I just know that there are a lot of academic ones. There’s ones for students who are first gen. Students who, you know, people of color, there are a lot of scholarships for that as well. I think there’s just a lot that suits anybody’s interest, those who may need Disability Services, there may be a different scholarship that are available at that office in particular, that financially handles this, but you know.

Miguel: Do you guys have like a portal or something?

MistyQ: Yes, we do. So…

Miguel: So do you have to be accepted to use that portal?

MistyQ: No, no, in terms of like finding out that information?

Miguel: I mean, so where can students go to find more info?

MistyQ: I’m writing down the – the website for us. So gs.columbia.edu and this is my card. And [indistinct] tell him to check us out. Because we know oftentimes, the students who have, you know, such an easy transition in school, they’ll get an opportunity to maybe apply to an Ivy League institution. I’m the only one from the East Coast here. So I’m just going to –

Miguel: Represent.

MistyQ: Way to represent!

MistyQ: Cornell’s not here. Harvard’s not here. I am. I’m coming to get you, so…

Miguel: [laughs] Awesome. It was so nice to meet you.

MistyQ: It was nice to meet you too. Take care.

Miguel: You too.

Speaker 14: Northern Arizona University. This gentleman right here.

Miguel: Hello.

Jesse: Hi.

Miguel: How are you?

Jesse: Good. And yourself?

Miguel: Pretty good.

Jesse: Good, good. Do you have any questions for me?

Miguel: So my name is Miguel Nice to meet you. What’s your name?

Jesse: I’m Jesse.

Miguel: Jesse. Very nice to meet you, Jesse. So I’m walking around asking – so I work at the Office of Accessibility.

Miguel: And so I’m a student advocate.

Jesse: Okay.

Jesse: Okay.

Miguel: And we’re doing a podcast called Let’s Talk. And so I’m just walking around asking the questions, you know, what do you have to offer? You know what – we’re talking about the university.

Jesse: Yeah, so we are located in Flagstaff, Arizona. So it’s about two hours north of Phoenix. And we have to defy most of the stereotypes of Arizona. And that’s, you know, a hot desert, basically. [Miguel laughs]

Jesse: We’re more in the mountains and have never hit 100 degrees in Flagstaff. We get about 100 inches of snow every year. So it’s a very mountain environment, and we have about 21,000 students. And we offer several degree programs, about 100 different programs ranging from business to engineering to environmental sciences. So yeah, and we’re known for being kind of the smallest University in Arizona. So the sibling institutions, [indistinct].

Miguel: Do you guys have something like transfer scholarships, or

Jesse: We do have some transfer awards. So as an Oregon resident, you – once you are admitted, you automatically go into the Western undergraduate exchange for us, so you never pay full out of state tuition.

Miguel: Do I have to apply for that?

Jesse: No. So if you’re admitted, and you’re forever, like you’re an Oregon resident…

Miguel: Yeah.

Jesse: It’s automatic on your…

Miguel: That’s nice to know.

Jesse: Yeah. And then, on top of that, we do look at the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. So if you submit that, we do consider transfer students for the award based on metrics of that, and then if you’re a member of Phi Theta Kappa, you can apply for the PTK Scholarship as well.

Miguel: Okay.

Jesse: Yeah. And that would be an automatic process too.

Miguel: Okay.

Jesse: Yeah. Anything else you’re curious about?

Miguel: What are the deadlines to apply?

Jesse: So we have a rolling an application.

Miguel: Okay.

Jesse: So it can – hopefully do it sooner than later [laughs]. But you can apply later in the process if you want to. And we are on a semester system. So fall semester, spring semester. And typically, we would encourage you to apply a few months prior to the beginning of semester to be considered for admission and get everything figured out.

Miguel: Okay.

Jesse: Yeah.

Miguel: Jesse, it was so nice to meet you.

Jesse: It was nice to meet you too. And thank you for stopping by…

Miguel: Absolutely.

Jesse: And asking questions.

Miguel: So people sort of want to know more info, what – what’s your website, so you can go to?

Jesse: So just nau.edu.

Miguel: Awesome.

Jesse: That’s everything is on there.

Miguel: Awesome. Thank you.

Jesse: So nice to meet you.

Miguel: Nice to meet you, too.

Miguel: You too.

Jesse: Have a great day!

Speaker 15: College of Oriental Medicine’s over there.

Miguel: Hi there!

Emma: How are you doing?

Miguel: Good. What’s your name?

Emma: My name’s Emma.

Miguel: Emma, nice to meet you.

Emma: Nice to meet you.

Miguel: So I work with Office of Accessibility.

Emma: Yes.

Miguel: Here at PCC. And so I’m just walking around asking – we do a podcast called Let’s Talk.

Emma: Perfect.

Miguel: [indistinct] podcast for resources and so I’m just walking around asking, you know, what is – what do you guys have to offer to students who want to transfer over.

Emma: Excellent. So, as you said, I’m the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. We – one nice thing about our school is that we offer master’s and doctorate degrees, but we do not require a bachelor degree to come to our school. So we have a lot of students who are able to transfer directly from PCC with their credits. We offer master’s and doctoral programs in Chinese medicine. So acupuncture, herbal medicine, bodywork. It’s – we’re located right downtown. We have an onsite student clinic, so you get all of your intern hours there and when you graduate, you’re able to practice pretty much anywhere in the country.

Miguel: Nice.

Emma: Yeah.

Miguel: So what’s the process for transferring?

Emma: Um, so you would just need to contact the admissions office. Talk to us a little bit about where you’re at as far as your coursework. And then, as part of the application process, we just require transcripts, and a couple of references and an application.

Miguel: Do you guys have any scholarships?

Emma: We do have some scholarships available. We’re a nonprofit school, so we don’t have a lot of money for scholarships. We do merit scholarships based on transcripts, grades evaluations. We also have a few scholarships for Diversity and Equity, community service. There’s also some from our outside partners as far as herbal medicine and Chinese medicine. So some essay-based scholarships as well.

Miguel: What is the deadline to apply?

Emma: April 30th is our official deadline, but we do rolling admissions. So we will continue to accept applications until the class is full. So even if after April 30, we have space available, you can continue to apply.

Miguel: Awesome. Thank you so much.

Emma: You’re welcome.

Miguel: If students want to know more info, where can they go?

MistyQ: It is OCOM.edu.

Miguel: Awesome. Thank you so much.

Emma: It was nice to meet you.

Miguel: Nice to meet you, too.

Miguel: Hi, how’s it going?

Speaker 15: Good. How are you?

Miguel: So I do podcasts with the accessibility department.

Miguel: Called Let’s Talk. Can I ask you some questions?

Speaker 15: Okay.

Speaker 15: Sure. Go ahead.

Miguel: Okay. So tell me about Arizona State. What do you guys have to offer for students who are transferring over?

Speaker 15: Well, for starters, we have more than 400 undergraduate degree programs offered between four campuses in the metro Phoenix area, a campus in Lake Havasu City, we also have campuses in Los Angeles and Washington, DC. And then we also have a few hundred degrees offered fully online for students that would rather stay local to the Portland area. We’re also – we’ve also been named the number one university in the US for innovation by US News and World Report for now, eight years running.

Miguel: And what do you guys have to offer for students that are transferring?

Speaker 15: For transfer students, we have a fantastic tool called MyPath2ASU. So it’s all one word, “MyPath” and then the number two ASU. and it is a pathway program where students can build a map of transfer coursework from PCC that will transfer to their designated major at ASU. So it’ll show them how their credits transfer, help them plan out their coursework. So it takes some of the guesswork out of that process.

Miguel: And what’s your culture like?

Speaker 15: So, kind of hard to describe, because we’re such a huge university. We have over 70,000 Students enrolled across all of our campuses. And if you include online, it’s like over 110,000. But I would say a couple of words to describe our culture would be innovative. Entrepreneurship – it’s huge at ASU, as well. Students that want to start up businesses and companies and stuff like that, they really thrive at ASU because of the resources and support we have. It’s – we’ve got a lot of traditions on campus. Athletics is pretty huge for students that are interested in that. And then research is huge, too. We have over $600 million in research activity every year.

Miguel: And then what do you guys do as far as scholarships?

Speaker 15: With scholarships, we have hundreds of scholarships available for students to apply for through our scholarship portal. I’ll be sure to leave you with this – with one of our handouts that has our financial aid information. We also operate tuition discount program for students from the 14 western states, including Oregon. It’s called WUE, or the Western Undergraduate Exchange tuition discount. And for students that study qualifying majors, it allows them to reduce their tuition from the out of state rate of just under $30,000 a year to the Western Undergraduate Exchange rate, which is just under $16,500 per year.

Miguel: Okay. And what do you guys offer for your disability services?

Speaker 15: So we have comprehensive services for students with disabilities. The office is called SAILS, for short, and it stands for Student Accessibility and Inclusive Learning Services. And they offer a wide variety of services. They take a pretty broad definition of disability. So like even students that are pregnant kind of fall into that pool because they – any student that would require any sort of accommodations on campus would kind of be housed under that umbrella. And so they have services from like mobility services, to academic services as well, such as note taking services, extended testing accommodations, you know, time and stuff like that. So yeah, and I’ll actually build a packet for you here, and they’ve got a whole website that describes their services in more detail.

Miguel: What’s your deadline for transfer?

Speaker 15: We use a rolling deadline, so we don’t have any hard deadlines for admission. We just – for students transferring this fall, we recommend sooner rather than later. Typically it takes about four to six weeks to get through the admission process. And then for students that want to transfer later than this fall, typically they can start applying between the semester in a year before they plan to start.

Miguel: How many credits will transfer over?

Speaker 15: We can accept a maximum of 64 transfer credits from a community college and the MyPath2ASU tool that I mentioned – and actually I’ll write down the website for that too – the MyPath2ASU tool will show students how many of their credits can apply to their major.

Miguel: Like, how would if somebody has, like, an associate’s, would that transfer over?

Speaker 15: Oh, yeah.

Miguel: Okay.

Speaker 15: Yeah, we – the associate degree doesn’t transfer necessarily as a block. It will fulfill all of our lower division general studies requirements, like Gen Ed’s. But the courses within the associate degree can transfer individually. And if a student use MyPath2ASU to take the right courses, then they’ll transfer into their major.

Miguel: What’s your name?

Richard: Richard,

Miguel: Richard, nice to meet you. I’m Miguel.

Richard: Miguel, nice to meet you. Let me go ahead and write down this – MyPath2ASU website. And then I’ll kind of get you a package here. Okay. Get you a little more about our campuses, I’ll get you this financial aid brochure here, as well as our degree list and my business card in case you or any students you’re working with have any questions. I’ll go ahead and give this you.

Miguel: Okay. Thank you.

Richard: Yeah. Anything else you wanted to talk about?

Miguel: That was it. Thank you for answering my questions.

Richard: Sounds good. Have a wonderful day.

Miguel: Hello.

Speakers 16 and 17: How are you?

Miguel: I’m good? How are you?

Speaker 16: How can we help you today?

Miguel: So I work with the Office of Accessibility. So we have a podcast called Let’s Talk. And so I’m just wondering – I’m just here walking around and asking, you know, what do you guys have to offer students who want to transfer into WSU?

Speaker 16: Oh, well, we’re a system of five physical campuses and one online campus. The WSU Vancouver campus is located just across the river in north Vancouver. And we offer 25 bachelor’s degrees, and then a few master’s and PhD programs. What are you interested in studying?

Miguel: I’m a business major.

Speakers 16 and 17: Oh there you go! We have it.

Speaker 16: I think it’s just about almost all of our campuses.

Miguel: Nice.

Speaker 16: Yeah. And, yeah, do you know kind of what you want to do with business?

Miguel: I want to have – I want to start my own business. Doing nonprofit.

Speaker 16: That’s very cool. Yeah, we have an entrepreneurship program, which is where you want to be starting your own business. Are you studying a business degree here at PCC?

Miguel: Yeah.

Speaker 16: Your business associates degree?

Miguel: Well, I transferred over to PCC from [indistinct].

Speaker 16: Oh! Oh my gosh!

Miguel: Yeah.

Speaker 16: So are you from the Vancouver area?

Miguel: I went to school there for a couple years. I’m not from there, but I went to school there.

Speaker 16: Yeah, we also have scholarships for transfer students, too. It’s called the Vancouver Transfer Achievement Award. And if you have a 3.6 transfer GPA or higher, it’s an automatic award. You get a reduction on your tuition.

Miguel: Okay. Well, I grew up in Washington. Actually.

MistyQ: Yeah.

Miguel: I’m a Washington resident.

Speaker 16: Yeah. So are you still living in Washington?

Miguel: No.

Speaker 16: Okay, well, we have other scholarships for Oregon residents too. There’s the Border Bill where you can go part time and pay in state tuition rates. And then we also have the PDX Tuition Advantage where you can go full time, and if you live in Multnomah, Washington or Clackamas counties, you pay the equivalent of in-state rates.

Miguel: Oh nice. And what are the – what are the – what are the deadlines for – to apply for the scholarships to transfer in?

MistyQ: March 31st is our priority admission application date and if you apply by then, you can receive that PDX Tuition Advantage or any transfer VTA scholarships that you’d be eligible for.

Miguel: Awesome. Well thank you so much, guys. Nice to meet you both.

Speakers 16 and 17: Nice to meet you too. Bye! Good luck with your search today.

Carrie: All right, PCC students. Thank you so much for listening to our conversations. Me and Miguel hope that you found our questions investigative and informative to your needs. Make sure that you make an appointment with your assigned advisor to check in on your degree track, your major, your current choice of classes, and what you plan to do when you’re ready to transfer away from PCC. So to do that you log into MyPCC. And under Quick Links, you click on the “EAB” navigate tab. Then you click on “Appointments” and just follow the prompts. It’s super easy, and it’s super fun. I love talking to my advisor, and she always has the best advice for me. This has been an episode of Let’s Talk, hosted and interview by Miguel Chavez and Carrie Cantrell. And we are produced from the Accessible Education and Disability Resources Department at Portland Community College. So stop on by if you need any assistance in accessing technology, or other informative materials to make your college experience the best it can be. Thank you so much. Have a great day.