President Bernie Machen is paving the way for SLCC students to walk down easy street when applying to the U’s Honors Program.
The announcement is a watered-down version of an original idea Machen, and Salt Lake Community College President Lynn Cundiff discussed creating last summer. They planned to design a program to help SLCC students make a smoother transition to the University of Utah by letting SLCC honor graduates bypass certain requirements and enter into the department of their choice with junior status.
For many departments, the program would create more problems than it would solve, so Machen and Cundiff went back to the drawing board.
The new plan allows SLCC graduates with a minimum 3.5 GPA who transfer to the U automatic admittance into the Honors Program.
From any school, a student with a minimum 3.4 GPA can transfer to the U’s Honors Program. The program requires transfer students to take seven honors courses. These classes can satisfy lower-division, general education requirements.
Students who take advantage of the new program can take seven upper-division courses to compensate for the Honors lower-division requirement.
It is not a big change, but “it increases the flexibility of the program to accommodate students who want to enter later in their educational careers,” said John Francis, assistant vice president for academic affairs, academic studies. “It is a step to help all students make an easier transition.”
Previously, students were required to repeat those classes, taking them from Honors.
Students don’t have to transfer to take advantage of the program, Francis said. U students can also make the change to the program and take courses they need to graduate within an Honors degree.
Last year, nearly 900 students transferred from SLCC to the U?26 percent of total transfer students.
In a previous interview, Machen said the program, designed to attract students who have not yet decided where they want to graduate, is expected to start next semester.