The Colorado Department of Higher Education on April 8, 2014, announced the launch of a new program that will make it easier for transfer students – and those who have spent years in college classrooms without earning a degree – to get the credentials they deserve.
Degree Within Reach is Colorado’s way of describing reverse transfer, a process allowing students who have transferred from a Colorado Community College System campus to a Colorado university to combine credits from both institutions and apply them toward an associate’s degree.
For current or former transfer students, this means they can complete the associate’s degree they started at a community college while still working toward a bachelor’s degree. Former transfer students may also be eligible.
Research has shown that earning an associate’s en route to a bachelor’s can motivate students to fulfill their academic goals. An associate’s degree also boosts earning potential, allowing students to make more money if they’re working and going to school.
Beginning in April, eligible transfer students at participating institutions will be contacted by their institutions and informed of how to take advantage of this opportunity. Current or former students who transferred to a four-year institution in summer 2012 or later may be eligible. Participating four-year institutions are:
- Colorado State University
- Colorado State University-Global Campus
- Colorado State University-Pueblo
- Metropolitan State University of Denver
- Regis University
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs
- CU Denver
- Western State Colorado University
By the end of 2014, all of Colorado’s colleges and universities will become part of Degree Within Reach, an initiative passed through legislation in 2012 and partially funded by a grant from the Lumina Foundation. For more information, go to http://DegreeWithinReach.org.
Colorado Reverse Transfer 