Posted: 8/30/05 Section: News

Students thinking about transferring to public or private four-year institutions within the state of Illinois may find the whole process easier than it once was.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed earlier this month a bill establishing a Web-based system for course transferability. The Course Applicability System is designed to help students make it through their studies with as little stress and redundancy as possible.

The legislation establishes that the Board of Higher Education needs to implement a standard Web site for transferability. Currently, many individual institutions have a transfer Web site with a link to the applicability system. The common Web site allows students to see what courses are transferable towards a bachelor's degree. The Web site also lists academic programs, course evaluations and requirements, according to the bill.

Melissa Norris, sophomore in ALS, is pleased with the new legislation because it establishes standards between all the major schools using similar systems, potentially reducing stress.

"It puts everyone on the same page, and it's good if they use the same system," Norris said.

In the fall of 2004, more than 46,000 students transferred schools in the state of Illinois.

"Statistically, it has been noted that 60 percent of all college freshmen will transfer from their beginning institution within the first 18 months of the academic journey," said Rusty J. Fishel, vice president of Strategic Explorers, the pioneers who introduced the applicability system.

"More than 2.7 million students transfer from one institution to another annually," Fishel said. "In most cases, the method in which to help facilitate these transfers is manual, archaic and very time consuming."

Fishel has a vision that the software will help simplify what transfer students need to do to avoid wasting time in similar classes.

"The planning guide is for students to say, 'here are the courses and this is what I need to take and this is what I want to avoid taking in the future,'" Fishel said.

Developed at the Miami University of Ohio, the Course Applicability System was created by AcademyOne, Strategic Explorers first new business venture, to give easy access to students who wanted simply to log online to access information about course equivalencies. The system is now used by all students who attend community colleges in Illinois and intend on transferring to a four-year college or university.

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