MTSU and Nashville State Sign Agreement To Benefit Students

Mar 15, 2012 at 09:47 am by bryan


The presidents of MTSU and Nashville State Community College signed an agreement to make it easier for students to earn degrees from both institutions. 

MTSU’s Dr. Sidney A. McPhee and Nashville State’s Dr. George Van Allen officially authorized a Concurrent Enrollment and Reverse Transfer Agreement to ease the processes between the two Tennessee Board of Regents institutions and encourage students’ academic success.

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Nashville State hosted the signing of the agreement, which expands on the already-established Dual Admission Program between the two institutions. The new agreement provides advising, registration priority and admission to MTSU while the student is still at NSCC.

“This builds on our dual admissions agreement,” McPhee said, adding, “We’ll be working with students, easing the transition and eliminate a lot of the hassle. This will give them priority registration, which is a highly valued perk, and access to all student support services.

“This goes a long way in achieving those goals, and make for a better life for those in our community.”

Nashville State will be opening a satellite campus in Antioch in the future.

“When we open the campus in Antioch, it will be in close proximity to MTSU,” Van Allen said, “and this agreement will impact those students more than others.”

Dr. Kim Estep, vice president for academic affairs and student services at Nashville State, was among the higher-education officials attending the ceremony. 

“Nashville State is delighted to provide these additional opportunities for students to experience a seamless transition between NSCC and MTSU,” she said. “MTSU has been a great partner with NSCC and we look forward to continuing our collaboration.”

Nancy Eisenbrandt, chief operating officer for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, also attended and noted the positive impact the agreement will have on the future work force for the Nashville and Middle Tennessee region.

“The collaboration between these two institutions is a very, very important initiative,” Eisenbrandt said.

MTSU also has established dual-admission programs with Chattanooga State, Dyersburg State and Motlow State community colleges.

The “concurrent enrollment” aspect of the new agreement allows students to enroll for classes at both institutions simultaneously and get financial aid for the total number of credits if needed. This will help community college students in selected majors to enroll in other required lower-division courses that are currently offered only at MTSU (such as nutrition, interior design and concrete industry).

The “reverse transfer” portion of the plan gives former NSCC students, who enrolled at MTSU without receiving an NSCC associate’s degree, the opportunity to transfer MTSU credits back to NSCC and receive a two-year diploma.

Students must meet certain criteria to be eligible for the new partnership with NSCC, including meeting admissions standards for MTSU.

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