Mesalands signs transfer agreement with Colorado State University-Global Campus

October 13, 2014

Mesalands Community College recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Colorado State University-Global (CSU-Global) Campus located in Greenwood Village, CO, to facilitate students’ transfer from Mesalands to CSU-Global. This MOU formally recognizes that both institutions are active educational partners, committed to providing greater educational opportunities and services for students transferring between institutions.

CSU-Global is an entirely online non-profit state university, regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. CSU-Global is part of the Colorado State system and has an enrollment of approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Through its dedication to student support, CSU-Global has a retention rate of 83 percent.

“Mesalands Community College approached Colorado State University-Global Campus about developing a transfer agreement between both institutions,” said Dr. Thomas W. Newsom, President of Mesalands Community College. “We felt that this was another opportunity for our graduates to have a seamless transition from their associate’s degree, to earning a bachelor’s degree. This agreement helps our institution to design another pathway to success for our students.”

Mesalands and CSU-Global are in the process of developing articulation agreements for Associate of Art Business degrees at Mesalands, to transfer to a bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Business Management with an Accounting Option, or Business Management with an Option in Information Technology focus at CSU-Global Campus. Mesalands is also working on articulation agreements with CSU-Global to provide advanced degrees for students graduating with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Wind Energy Technology.

“We plan to develop articulation agreements with CSU-Global that will transition our wind energy technology graduates into a business degree. These students will have their technical skills in the wind industry, in addition to managerial skills to expand their employment opportunities,” Natalie Gillard, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Mesalands Community College said.

Ms. Gillard stated that another advantage to CSU-Global is the low cost of attendance, compared to other online universities.

The cost per credit hour at CSU-Global is $350. There are no additional fees associated with this cost. In addition, students graduating from Mesalands with an associate’s degree and a minimum of a 2.0 final cumulative GPA, and have enrolled with CSU-Global within one year of graduation, will receive a 10 percent tuition discount applied toward tuition. This rate is guaranteed to not increase as long as the student remains enrolled. Students may also be eligible for need-based financial aid, scholarships, and other types of financial aid at CSU-Global. Financial planners are also available to assist students.

“This is a terrific partnership and is one that will benefit graduating students at Mesalands Community College. We look forward to helping Mesalands students who have earned their associate’s degree to continue moving forward and turn it into a bachelor’s,” Dustin Leffingwell, Community College Outreach Coordinator at Colorado State University-Global Campus. “Studies do show that students graduating with an associate’s degree are much more likely to continue on and finish their bachelor’s degree. They are also more likely to be successful.