<p>Way back in 1979, William and Mary guaranteed me transfer admission when I was admitted and chose to go elsewhere. I don’t think this is anything new at all. I just thought of it as a nice backup plan.</p>
<p>edit: just read the BU thread that is linked. BU is accepting kids but telling them they can’t come as freshmen, and have to go somewhere else (community college? just says a degree-granting college) for a year first. That’s a bit different than being promised admission as a sophomore after declining a regular freshman admission decision, which is what W&M did for me.</p>
<p>Seeing as BU is about $60k, this could be an attractive way to get a BU diploma but save significant money by doing your first year at a community college. You could just get some gen ed/distribution requirements out of the way.</p>