MATC, UW-Whitewater make student transfer contract

Friday, October 26, 2007 9:09 PM CDT

Troy Roedl, a local history enthusiast, decorates his Water Street front porch in a traditional Halloween style with a display of oil lanterns and jack-o-lanterns Friday evening. (John Hart/Daily Times)

MADISON - Madison Area Technical College and its longtime partner, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, are enhancing options for transfer students.

As part of an agreement signed Friday by UW-Whitewater Interim Chancellor Richard Telfer and MATC President Bettsey Barhorst, qualified students who start as freshmen at MATC can be guaranteed admission as transfer students to UW-Whitewater.

The Transfer Contract program is designed for freshman students in the MATC Liberal Arts Transfer Program who meet specific levels of academic achievement and meet transfer admission requirements for UW-Whitewater.

Of UW-Whitewater's 606 transfer students this year, 14.5 percent came from MATC. In the 2006-07 fall semester, just over 13 percent of MATC students who transferred to a UW System institution chose UW-Whitewater. This number is second only to UW-Madison in the amount of UW System transfers from MATC.

The goal of the Transfer Contract is to expand access to UW-Whitewater for students at Madison Area Technical College and ultimately, increase the state's number of four-year degree holders. An unlimited number of qualifying MATC students will be able to take part in the program every year.

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“We believe MATC provides students with a strong foundation and gives them the necessary tools to be successful at UW-Whitewater,” Telfer said. “We are pleased that this agreement will make the transition from MATC to UW-Whitewater as seamless as possible for students.”

“MATC continues to serve our students by providing an ‘on-ramp' to UW System campuses,” Barhorst said. “The on-ramp to UW-Whitewater is now guaranteed. Students know exactly what process to follow, what classes to take, how many credits to earn and what grade point average they need to maintain to be accepted.”

Qualified MATC Liberal Arts Transfer Program students will be guaranteed admission to UW-Whitewater when they apply as transfer students after completing 54 credits in specified areas and earn an appropriate grade point average. Transfer Contract students completing the transfer to UW-Whitewater will be on equal footing with other transfer students for admission into 46 academic programs.

This is UW-Whitewater's first guaranteed transfer program. MATC has held a transfer contract with UW-Madison since April 2006.

MATC has campuses in Watertown, Fort Atkinson, Portage, Reedsburg and Madison.