will any body could transfer from INDEPENDENCE UNIVERSITY (CALIFORNIA COLLEGE FOR HEALTH SCIENCES

i have been dealing with this for years, moving around the country due to changes in my life and just overall circumstances. I have close to 5 years in now FT and still no bachelors, it seemed like every time i transferred i fell more behind.

I've had to transfer and didn't have a problem. One of the biggest problems is that many people going off to college expect to have their hands held and everything done for them. It is up to the student to research and understand what the requirements are, or at least speak with a counselor who is there for that reason.

Nobody stops you from researching the transfer needs BEFORE enrollment. I don't think that colleges and universities should have to do the work that prospective students don't want to. I don't want to pay higher tuition rates so that they can hire more staff to cater to a POTENTIAL student's needs.

Before anything like this is addressed, I think the issue of financial aid should be improved so that students can spend more time looking into transfer issues than worrying about having to find money to pay for college.

There are many state bound transfer websites that link together a minority of institutions trying to publish transfer information. There are nice systems in Texas, Ohio, California and Florida to name a few. With 40% of students crossing states and with 65% of students transfering 4-4, 4-2 and 2-2, most of the transfer websites offer limited help because they are designed to serve a small portion of the transfer population. This is why AcademyOne is building a national site to help institutions link and publish more realistic pathways that match what students are doing and to market good information to them. www.coll egetransfer.net is on the right track. It will take a few years to get all the states and institutions to join in. We are not suggesting they eliminate proprietary and partial systems. We are suggesting they should be part of a national solution. Raising public pressure and market awareness will help. Keep signing the petition - it will make a difference.

Check out The Course Applicability System - http://trans fer.org - to see what some schools have already done to make the transfer process easier! I found it very helpful.

I really wish it was easy for every college (2or 4 year) to share all transfer data so that someone choosing to transfer to another institution for any reason can get credit for all courses taken no matter what level the course was. Someone in any service branch stationed overseas may not have access to some courses that are offered in the states unless they take courses online. I think that any program offered online should be available in all states or locations so that some working adults could get these credits and still work full time and take care of their families.

Counselors and advisors promote the idea of transfer to many students in high school for academic and financial reasons. Attending community college is an alternative to paying for four years of college. Plus, many can attend a community college to find their career interests. They offer some guidance on transfer. But, are limited by what other colleges and universities reveal in their transfer policies. If you take the basic college courses and not focus on major, you are better off. But, many schools have a culture - formal and informal, that pressures students to pick a major to gain access to courses. Students often change major. I changed majors several times and transfered to complete my degree. The whole system is not oriented toward helping a student find their potential. It penalizes you for expermenting and trying things. And, it devalues the effort and exposure that is subsidized by state and federal dollars. It would seem institutions should do a better job aligning how course work, no matter where it is taken, applies toward a degree. There is value in all courses. There is way too much focus on a major and what courses count toward it - like a bundled package. People will have five to ten jobs in their lifetime. A major does not prepare you for that. Majors are areas of specialization that should be minor in the scheme of things. Schools market majors because that is what they think people and business want. And, it has the unintended consquence complicating transfer. It undermines the overall purpose of going to college to pursue lifes aspirations and gain a credential that demonstrates one can master anything. Governments are lobbied by colleges and universities to support access and enrollment to higher education. They help sell the idea and value to society. We should subsidize and make college affordible to all citizens desiring to attend. But, we should also expect schools to work together better. We the people, pay for the system that has morphed and gotten away from the root reasons why college is important to us. Pledging your voice shows people care about this issue and its impact on our future both here and around the world.

I think it is just the nature of the beast. It really sucks going through it but at the end of the day colleges are just very different. They are their own independent entities with their own classes. If we started messing with that we would be messing with the fundamentals of acedamia.