Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC, PSU agree on new co-admissions agreement

Photos and story by James Hill

Portland Community College and Portland State University have renewed a streamlined co-admission agreement that makes it easier for students to take classes at both institutions, live in PSU residence halls and complete their degrees.

The two institutions started co-admitting students in winter 2001 after statewide research on enrollment patterns showed students were enrolling in multiple schools on their own without the benefit of a structured degree pathway – a trend called “swirling.” The agreement gives those students more coordinated support to meet their educational needs. The new agreement establishes application deadlines, allows students to apply online and opens PSU housing to co-admitted students on a space available basis.

PCC District President Preston Pulliams said that the agreement helps get more students into the educational pipeline. He said Oregon ranks 27th in country in the percentage of high school students going into higher education – a number he hopes will change with this renewed Portland State partnership.

“To make an improvement in that data we need collaboration and innovation,” Pulliams said. “The collaboration piece comes from the fact we cannot stand alone any longer as institutions. On the innovation piece we have to come up with new and creative ways of approaching this issue. For me that’s what this program really represents. It raises the number of students who can come to PCC and PSU and be successful and move on with their lives.”

In addition to Portland State, PCC has dual enrollment agreements with Oregon State University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Concordia University, Western Governors University, Marylhurst University and Linfield College.

Since the PSU agreement began, 7,204 students have been co-admitted to PCC and PSU. Of those students, 2,748 have graduated with a degree from PSU. Last fall 1,057 students transferred between the schools, up from 669 in fall 2007. PCC’s Enrollment Services Office estimates that it sends more than 800 student transcripts every term to PSU.

“I’m really pleased to renew this co-admissions agreement with PCC,” said PSU President Wim Wiewel. “Thirty-six percent of all of undergraduates at PSU started at PCC. That’s huge. Among our senior class, 43 percent of them are a PCC transfer student. It’s absolutely an integral part of who we are as an institution to have this relationship. To continue to find ways to make it work better is absolutely critical and this is one step in that.”

Thomas Worth transferred to PSU last summer after graduating from PCC with a transfer degree in political science. But Worth had to take a PCC math class while enrolled at PSU. He said he’s proof that the co-enrollment agreement benefits students.

“The co-enrollment program worked well for me,” he said. “I had no difficulty in applying for the co-enrollment program.”

Students can apply for co-admission online at: www.pcc.edu/admissions/dual/.

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