College Credit: SCC, Lindenwood Partner to Help Students Complete Degrees

Students at  sometimes leave before they earn enough credits to obtain an associate degree. 

Often, those students transfer to a four-year school, and many times, that school is . 

Now the Lindenwood students who transfered from SCC have a way to apply the credits they earn at Lindenwood toward finishing their associate degree from SCC. 

"It's one thing to say, 'I'm 87 hours to my bachelor degree,'" Yvette Sweeney, SCC dean of student development, said. "It's another to say, 'I have my associate degree.'"

Employers are pushing for job candidates to have more credentials, Sweeney said. 

"It's so much easier when you are applying for a job when you have an associate degree," she said. "It's just a more portable credential." 

St. Charles Community College and Lindenwood University on Thursday finalized a partnership between the two schools. 

SCC students who have at least 15 credit hours and transfer to Lindenwood University will be eligible to complete the additional classes at Lindenwood required for an associate degree from SCC. Students who do qualify would be informed via letter about the opportunity to be awarded the associate degree at SCC.

A student must have 64 credits to obtain an associate of art degree and anywhere from 61 to 68 credits to earn an associate of science degree from SCC. Lindenwood University requires students to take 42 hours in general education courses, many of which could be put toward the requirements for an associate degree. 

It's still unclear how many students will benefit from the partnership. The largest percentage of transfer students to Lindenwood University come from St. Charles Community College. During the 2011-12 school year, 643 students transfered to Lindenwood and 212—33 percent— were from St. Charles Community College.

St. Charles Community College tracked students who enrolled in the school for the first time in the fall 2005 over a four-year period and found that 20.4 percent of those transfered to Lindenwood in that time frame. 

University of Missouri, St. Louis is the no. 1 place to which SCC students transfer. The college is talking with UMSL about a similar partnership. 

SCC President Ronald Chesbrough said both Lindenwood and SCC have a vested interest in seeing more students complete degrees. 

"We very much are committed to increasing graduation rates," Lindenwood President James Evans said. "We encourage students to stay here (at SCC) and complete their degree."