Under a new articulation agreement, UMSL will allow SCC business students to apply credits for courses they have completed for their associate degrees toward their bachelor’s degrees in business administration. (Photo by August Jennewein)

A new partnership between the University of Missouri–St. Louis and St. Charles Community College will put community college business administration students on the right track to earn a bachelor’s degree from UMSL.

Under a new articulation agreement, UMSL will allow SCC business students to apply credits for courses they have completed for their associate degrees toward their bachelor’s degrees in business administration.

In addition to making the transfer process seamless for students, officials from both colleges said the agreement will also increase enrollment and graduation rates.

“I’m excited about this,” said Steven Oberg, business administration chair at SCC. “This is probably one of our most significant agreements to date because of our proximity and our relationship with UMSL.”

Oberg said that there are several hundred SCC students who have declared business administration as their major and could benefit from the credit transfer agreement.

“We already have a lot of students who transfer to UMSL, and we hope that number will increase with this agreement because it gives them a clear pathway to a four-year degree,” he said.

Michael Elliott, associate dean of the UMSL College of Business Administration, said the articulation agreement ensures that 64 credit hours taken at SCC will transfer to the business administration degree program at UMSL.

“It will help students to take the correct courses at SCC to maximize their transfer credits and best prepare them for their junior and senior level classes at UMSL,” Elliott said. “Additionally, steering students away from courses they don’t need or that won’t transfer helps them to graduate in a timely and cost-effective manner.”

Elliott said the College of Business Administration accepts equivalency courses from SCC because of the quality of their business administration coursework.

“Due to the rigor of SCC’s courses, students are well prepared to take on the additional challenge of those upper-level courses,” he said.

Oberg said the agreement will bring students to SCC and prepare them for their next level of education at UMSL.

“It will serve to attract better students to our programs, which is a win for us,” he said. “UMSL will be getting transfer students who have already proven that they can finish something plus they’re increasing their number of juniors and seniors.”