Nicholls, SLCC sign transfer agreements

Area residents looking to further their education will now have a simplified path to get a four-year degree.

Officials with South Louisiana Community College and Nicholls State University signed four articulation agreements Monday meant to guarantee smooth transfer options for students entering Nicholls’ nursing, criminal justice, business administration and biology programs.

These agreements are known as “two plus two” agreements, meaning that they guarantee a transfer to Nicholls after a student earns an associate’s degree from SLCC in one of the four programs, a South Louisiana Community College news release said.

The agreements will be in effect for the spring 2019 semester. They were signed at SLCC’s Young Memorial Campus in Morgan City and apply to all of SLCC’s campuses. SLCC’s main campus is in Lafayette, and the college also has campuses in St. Mary, Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, St. Landry, St. Martin, Terrebonne and Vermilion parishes.

SLCC already has the same type of agreements in place with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Northwestern State University, which are members of the University of Louisiana System along with Nicholls.

In July, Young Memorial finished its realignment to become part of South Louisiana Community College after previously being part of South Central Louisiana Technical College. Young Memorial still offers all its technical courses in addition to community college courses.

When the realignment began, officials committed to increasing educational opportunities for residents in the Morgan City area “and this portion of Acadiana,” said Natalie Harder, chancellor of South Louisiana Community College.

“We are so excited that less than six months after flipping the official switch, we are here to sign more two plus two’s in one day than any other community college or four-year institution has ever done in this state,” Harder said.

Nicholls State President Jay Clune said he is “so proud to be associated with South Louisiana Community College.”

SLCC and Nicholls leaders are trying to remove “any obstacles from students transferring from a community and technical college to a university,” Clune said.

Clune expects the relationship between SLCC and Nicholls to grow and “become a model for the state,” he said.

Jim Henderson, president of the University of Louisiana System, also attended the signing.

“This signing today is about students,” Henderson said.

The signing expands students' access to education, so they will be able further their education and develop the skills necessary to economically succeed, Henderson said.

State Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, said he suggested Nicholls and SLCC officials sign such agreements and is going to push for the Louisiana State University and Southern University systems to do the same thing.

Everyone should be for improving students’ access to education, Allain said.

“I think today all of the resistance from doing this type of open education is going to go away,” he said.

State Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, said, years ago, state legislators passed a law requiring that community college credits transfer to four-year universities in Louisiana.

However, there was strong resistance from universities across the state, Jones said.

“This is the first part of cracking that and making sure that they, in a seamless way, accept the credits from the community colleges toward the four-year degrees,” Jones said.