Articulation and Transfer

Midlands Technical College is committed to working closely with public and private high schools to ensure students have the preparation they need to enter Midlands Technical College and to succeed in the programs of their choice. The college also works with other institutions of higher education to facilitate students’ transfer of credits both into Midlands Technical College and from Midlands Technical College to other colleges.

Students wishing to transfer from Midlands Technical College to another college should contact that college for information about transferability of credits. Because the transfer of credits is always the decision of the receiving institution, Midlands Technical College cannot guarantee transfer of its courses, but articulation agreements are generally accurate guidelines for students.

Applicability and time limitations on transfer coursework will be determined at the receiving institution by the appropriate program’s department chair or designee.

Students wishing to transfer to Midlands Technical College from another college should request that all previous colleges attended submit official transcripts to the Admissions Office. Midlands Technical College accepts electronic transcripts via Parchment, National Student Clearinghouse, as well as transcripts sent directly from a college or university to the Admissions email account at admissions@midlandstech. edu. These transcripts should be received at MTC no less than three (3) weeks prior to the published application deadline for a particular semester.

Although the Associate in Arts and the Associate in Science programs are the designated programs for students planning to transfer to other colleges and universities, there are articulation agreements through other majors including Criminal Justice, Early Care and Education, Human Services, Paralegal Studies, Engineering, and Nursing. Students should check with their program advisor about these agreements.

The REACH Act Requirement for Students Pursuing a 4- Year Degree

The South Carolina REACH Act (Reinforcing College Education on America’s Constitutional Heritage) requires all students graduating with a baccalaureate degree to successfully complete a 3-credit-hour course (or its equivalent) that covers the founding documents of the United States. These documents include the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, at least five Federalist Papers, and at least and one document that is foundational to the African American Freedom struggle.

Students may take HIS 201 (American History: Discovery to 1877) or PSC 201 (American Government) at MTC to meet this requirement prior to transfer, or they may choose to meet the requirement via coursework taken at their transfer destination.

Transfer: State Policies and Procedures

The Commission on Higher Education for the State of South Carolina is responsible for establishing policies and procedures for the transferability of courses at the undergraduate level between two- and four-year institutions. These policies and procedures are defined below. (For more information, see the Statewide Transfer and Articulation Center webpage at sctrac.org.)

Transfer Policy for Public Two-Year and Four-Year Institutions in South Carolina

1. The South Carolina Course Articulation and Transfer System serves as the primary tool and source of information for transfer of academic credit between and among institutions of higher education in the state. The system provides institutions with the software tools needed to update and maintain course articulation and transfer information easily. The student interface of this system is the South Carolina Transfer and Articulation Center (SC TRAC) web portal: sctrac.org. This web portal is an integrated solution to meet the needs of South Carolina’s public colleges and universities and their students and is designed to help students make better choices and avoid taking courses which will not count toward their degree. Each institution’s student information system interfaces with sctrac.org to help students and institutions by saving time and effort while ensuring accuracy and timeliness of information.

Admissions, Criteria, Course Grades, GPAs, Validations

1. All four-year public institutions will issue annually in August a transfer guide or maintain such a guide online. Information published in transfer guides will cover at least the following items:
A - The institution’s definition of a transfer student.
B - Requirements for admission both to the institution and, if more selective, requirements for admission to particular programs.
C -Institutional and, if more selective, programmatic maximums of course credits allowable in transfer.
D - Information about course equivalencies and transfer agreements.
E - Limitations placed by the institution or its programs for acceptance of standardized examinations (e.g., SAT, ACT) taken more than a given time ago, for academic coursework taken elsewhere, for coursework repeated due to failure, for coursework taken at another institution while the student is academically suspended at his/her home institution, and so forth.
F - Information about institutional procedures used to calculate student applicants’ Grade Point Averages (GPA) for transfer admission. Such procedures will describe how nonstandard grades (withdrawal, withdrawal failing, repeated course, etc.) are evaluated; and they will also describe whether all coursework taken prior to transfer or only coursework deemed appropriate to the student’s intended four-year program of study is calculated for purposes of admission to the institution and/or to the programmatic major.
G - Institutional policies related to “academic bankruptcy” (i.e., removing an entire transcript or parts thereof from a failed or underachieving record after a period of years has passed) so that re-entry into the four-year institution with course credit earned in the interim elsewhere is done without regard to the student’s earlier record.
H - “Residency requirements” for the minimum number of hours required to be earned at the institution for the degree.

South Carolina Transfer and Articulation Center (SC TRAC)

1. All two-and four-year public institutions will publish information related to course articulation and transfer, including but not limited to items A through D mentioned above, on the South Carolina Transfer and Articulation Center website, SCTRAC. org. Course equivalency information listing all courses accepted from each institution in the state (including the 86 courses in the Statewide Articulation Agreement) and their respective course equivalencies (including courses in the “free elective” category) will be made available on SCTRAC.org. This course equivalency information will be updated as equivalencies are added or changed and will be reviewed annually for accuracy. Additionally, articulation agreements between public South Carolina institutions of higher education will be made available on sctrac.org, will be updated as articulation agreements are added or changed, and will be reviewed annually for accuracy. All other transfer information published on sctrac.org will be reviewed at least annually and updated as needed.

Statewide Articulation of 86 Courses (SC TRAC)

1. The Statewide Articulation Agreement of 86 courses approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education for transfer from two- to four-year public institutions is applicable to all public institutions, including two-year institutions and institutions within the same system. In instances where an institution does not have courses synonymous to ones on this list, it will identify comparable courses or course categories for acceptance of general education courses on the statewide list. This list of courses is available online at che.sc.gov as well as on sctrac.org.

Statewide Transfer Blocks

1. The Statewide Transfer Blocks established in 1996 will be accepted in their totality toward meeting baccalaureate degree requirements at all four-year public institutions in relevant four-year degree programs. Several Transfer Blocks were updated in March 2009: Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Business; Engineering; and Science and Mathematics. Transfer Blocks for Teacher Education were updated in July 2010. Transfer Blocks for Nursing were updated in July 2012. The courses listed in each Transfer Block will be reviewed periodically by the Commission’s Academic Affairs staff in consultation with the Advisory Committee on Academic Programs to ensure their accuracy, and the Transfer Blocks will be updated as needed.
2. For the Nursing Transfer Block, by statewide agreement, at least 60 semester hours will be accepted by any public four-year institution toward the baccalaureate completion program (BSN) from graduates of any South Carolina public associate degree program in nursing (ADN), provided that the program is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission or the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and that the graduate has successfully passed the National Licensure Examination (NCLEX) and is a currently licensed Registered Nurse.
3. Any student who has completed either an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree program at any public two-year South Carolina institution which contains the total coursework found in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences or the Science and Mathematics Transfer Block will automatically be entitled to junior-level status or its equivalent at whatever public senior institution to which the student might have been admitted. However, as agreed by the Advisory Committee on Academic Programs, junior status applies only to campus activities such as priority order for registration for courses, residence hall assignments, parking, athletic event tickets, etc. and not in calculating academic degree credits. For a complete listing of all courses in each Transfer Block, see che.sc.gov.

Assurance of Transferability of Coursework Covered by the Transfer Policy

1. Coursework (i.e., individual courses, transfer blocks, and statewide agreements) covered within this transfer policy will be transferable if the student has completed the coursework with a “C” grade (2.0 on a 4.0 scale) or above. However, the transfer of grades does not relieve the student of the obligation to meet any GPA requirements or other admissions requirements of the institution or program to which application has been made. In addition, any four-year institution which has institutional or programmatic admissions requirements for transfer students with cumulative grade point averages (GPAs) higher than 2.0 on a 4.0 scale will apply such entrance requirements equally to transfer students from regionally accredited South Carolina public institutions regardless of whether students are transferring from a four-year or two-year institution.
2. Any coursework covered within this transfer policy will be transferable to any public institution without any additional fee and without any further encumbrance such as a “validation examination,” “placement examination/instrument,” “verification instrument,” or any other stricture, notwithstanding any institutional or system policy, procedure, or regulation to the contrary.

Assurance of Quality

1. All claims from any public two- or four-year institution challenging the effective preparation of any other public institution’s coursework for transfer purposes will be evaluated by the staff of the Commission on Higher Education in consultation with the Advisory Committee on Academic Programs. After these claims are evaluated, appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that the quality of the coursework has been reviewed and approved on a timely basis by sending and receiving institutions alike.

Transfer Officers

1. Each institution will provide the contact information for the institution’s Transfer Office personnel, including telephone numbers, office address, and e-mail address, on its website and on sctrac.org.
Transfer office personnel will:
- Provide information and other appropriate support for students considering transfer and recent transfers.
- Serve as a clearinghouse for information on issues of transfer in the state of South Carolina.
- Provide definitive institutional rulings on transfer questions for the institution’s students under these procedures.
- Work closely with feeder institutions to assure ease in transfer for their students.

Statewide Publication and Distribution of Information on Transfer

1. The staff of the Commission on Higher Education will place this document on the Commission’s website under the title “Transfer Policies.” In addition, information about transfer, including institutional policies, course equivalencies, and articulation agreements, will be published and distributed by all public institutions through transfer guides and be made available on sctrac.org.
Furthermore, course catalogs for each public two-and four-year institution will contain a section entitled “Transfer: State Policies and Procedures.” This section will:
A. Include the Transfer Policy for Public Two-Year and Four-Year Institutions in South Carolina.
B. Refer interested parties to sctrac.org as well as to the institutional Transfer Guide and institutional and Commision on Higher Education’s website at che. sc.gov for further information regarding transfer.