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Collaboration Between Universities and Community Colleges

Offer New Educational Opportunities for Students
by Michelle R. Davis

Driving along the highway in west central Michigan, a prospective college student might be intrigued by a roadside billboard with the Ferris State University flame logo. But the same billboard might also feature the logo of a local community college.

That’s because Ferris State has embarked on a partnership with many of the community colleges in that area of Michigan. Those partnerships take a number of forms, including shared faculty and educational space to agreements that make it easy for students who have earned associate degrees at two-year institutions to transfer to Ferris State as juniors. Often, those students don’t even need to leave their community college campuses to earn their bachelor’s degree from Ferris State.

While this cooperation between four-year and two-year institutions may take many forms, the universal goal is the same, says Ferris State University President David L. Eisler. “Our mission is to provide access to a bachelor’s degree,” Eisler says. “By opening it up to those who wouldn’t be able to receive this education any other way, we’re furthering that mission.”

Across the country, four-year colleges and universities are looking at ways to partner with community colleges. Some of the reasons are economic; others, as in the case of Ferris State, serve to further a mission. But often the reasons just make good business sense.

“We don’t have the capital costs of additional satellite locations and community colleges give us favorable rental rates,” Eisler says. “We benefit and they benefit.”

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