Transferring college courses should be easier

In this age of exorbitant higher education tuition costs, students are inclined to find ways to save money.

One way is to take lower-level classes, like biology and algebra, at a local community college for a fraction of the cost at a four-year school.

Sometimes when a student seeks to transfer credits for these courses, they run into problems. A class they’ve taken might not be a perfect match, like an art appreciation class instead of an art history class, or the class is irrelevant to their upper-level degree plan.

Many transfer students find themselves with useless course credits.

Lawmakers want to fix this, and they’re putting together a work group to figure out ways to provide assistance and structure to the transfer process.

Helping students pick better curriculum choices will lead to less debt and faster graduation for students.

Two North Texas higher education institutions are already solving this problem. The University of Texas at Arlington and Tarrant County College started the Early Transfer Identification Program, a streamlined process that helps students take only classes relevant to their degree.

Legislators should take note.

This story was originally published February 14, 2017 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Transferring college courses should be easier."