<p>Read this thread and Stopgap's problem. (Stopgap is poster #2, not the OP.)</p>
<p>Why would a college in general or U of Illinois in particular refuse to consider an older transfer student who, for example, took one class per semester at community college over a period of five or six years, so they had "experienced" 10 or 12 semesters of previous college study? </p>
<p>I don't get it. :confused:</p>
<p>The U of Illinois site says it is because of “crowded program conditions” but programs are equally crowded for 18-year-old freshmen as for ahem-year-old moms or grandmas; older people don’t take up any more room.</p>
<p>Universities in general will not accept large amounts of credit from another school or will make you take subsequent courses so you take more classes in the end. Revenue matter often, plus if you have the U’s degree, it likes you to have taken its courses (branding if you will).</p>
<p>I don’t know the details of the other posters, but in general, in order to get a degree from an institution, you need to be there through the end of your Junior Year (and then get your Senior Year credits somewhere else), or earn the Junior and Senior year at the institution.</p>
<p>It prevents dilution of the institution’s name in awarding the degree. Why should the U of IL give you a U of IL degree if you earned most of your credit at XYZ College? Your education is really XYZ college, and not U of IL. If you want a U of IL degree, then expect to earn the majority of your credits at the U of IL. That way, you are really learning from the U of IL.</p>
<p>Of course a college would required you to take two years in residence to earn a degree from their school. I think they all do that.</p>
<p>This is different. They are rejecting the student outright.</p>
<p>No professional knowledge, but I think it’s two problems:</p>
<p>1) The aforementioned “too many credits from another institution” (my CC wouldn’t certify my general education to transfer to Cal because I had taken over 30 units at another university first)</p>
<p>2) Length of time to complete credits</p>
<p>2 usually comes up in med school applications or with regards to test score validity. If it’s over 5 years (or 4, or 6, or 10 – the number varies depending on who’s looking), it doesn’t count.</p>
<p>I could see a university not giving credit for classes taken. In fact, I’ve seen where transfers have been told that only X CC hours will counted for transfer purposes.</p>
<p>To deny a person admission outright–hmmm…because of impacted campuses, many state schools will not admit second bacc applicants, or perhaps students who look like, from past history, ones who will be perpetual students. </p>
<p>I think that perhaps a private college will not be so picky or have such rules.</p>
<p>Two universities that will accept up to 90 semester hours of transfer credit are Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa (<a href=“http://www.ashford.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.ashford.edu</a>), and the University of Maryland University College ([UMUC](<a href=“http://www.umuc.edu%5DUMUC%5B/url%5D”>http://www.umuc.edu)</a>). Both of these institutions have extensive distance programs, and cater to an older, crowd. Both are fully accredited.</p>
<p>Not everyone is as picky as U of Illinois. This student should look elsewhere.</p>
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<p>If a kid has earned that many credits (ignoring the AP credits), then it raises the issue of whether the kid will ever earn a degree. If they have that many credits, they are better off finishing their degree in whatever they can, and then go to grad school for the degree they want.</p>
<p>The University of Illinois system has some odd transfer rules. You can transfer in CC credit without any problems as long as you do not have more than 60 hours. I have never heard of the ten semester rule. That might be a UIUC rule and not an University of Illinois rule. Many grad programs do have rules about age of the science prereqs.</p>
<p>I think that if you a university gives you a degree, it is not unreasonable of them to require you to take at least half of your credits at that university. After all, your degree carries their name, and they are supposed to stand behind it.</p>
<p>^Agree with that…but why not just cap the number of transferable credits and let the applicant enroll? According to the poster, he isn’t even allowed to enroll.</p>
<p>Agree completely. The Illinois rule is so unusual - and so biased against older degree seekers - that it really does not seem fair.</p>
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<p>I think one of the reasons it is harsh is to keep down the number of students trying to get in. They can’t accept everyone. Having a limitation on the time to earn a degree (classes have to be within the past 7 years or so) also pushes the kids to move on.</p>
<p>I’m sure you are right about the policy-based reason. But what makes an 18-year-old automatically more deserving of “space” and state monies than a 48-year-old? Seems like a mean-spirited policy.</p>
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<p>Not “more deserving”, but they are in the business of educating 18-year olds. It takes a different focus to educate 48-year olds. How many 48 year olds will put up with living in a quad-dorm room, eat dorm food, stand in lines for hours to register, etc.</p>
<p>It is easier for them to accomdate you into their graduate programs than into their undergrad program. Finish up your undergrad any way you can, and try to get into their graduate program. The grad degree will be more valuable to you anyway.</p>
<p>FYI: I think the year I graduated, there was a story of a 65(?) year old mom that finally finished her degree. I’m guessing she was grandfathered by the rules in effect when she first enrolled.</p>
<p>The SUNY campuses, the University of Minnesota and McGill allow second Bachelor’s degrees. (This is probably also true of many other Canadian universities.) An Illinois resident would pay only slightly more to attend any of these schools than it would cost to attend UIUC. In fact, for the majors at UIUC to which a $4,000 annual surcharge is applied, the SUNY campuses and Minnesota would probably be cheaper.</p>
<p>UIUC is one of the last places you’d want to be a non-traditional student in any case. Non-traditional students are severely underrepresented on campus. And Champaign-Urbana has little to offer socially or culturally outside of the university.</p>
<p>In any case, a 48-year-old probably would live in an off-campus apartment and eat food they provide for themselves.</p>
<p>For non-traditional students in Illinois, more of them tend to go to UIC than UIUC. A lot of them do not want to move all the way down to Urbana. UIC is a more convenient school for those in the Chicago area.</p>