Alamo Colleges District Receives $499,840 Grant from Greater Texas Foundation
March 22, 2024
The Alamo Colleges District proudly announces the launch of the Alamo Colleges District Credit Mobility Project, funded by a generous grant of $499,840 from the Greater Texas Foundation. This transformative initiative aims to create a student-facing degree planning portal that will facilitate seamless transfers between the Alamo Colleges and its many college and university partner institutions.
“This generous grant from the Greater Texas Foundation marks a pivotal moment in the technological advancement of our ongoing work to provide seamless pathways for our students,” said Dr. Mike Flores, Alamo Colleges District Chancellor. “We are grateful for the support of the Greater Texas Foundation and look forward to the impact this project will have on the lives of countless students to move with ease on their college journey.”
The announcement occurred during an annual South & Central Texas Transfer Compact Meeting held at the Alamo Colleges District ACCESS Building, uniting leaders from colleges and universities across Texas as part of a collaborative effort to increase the efficiency of transferring to a four-year college or university.
The Alamo Colleges District Credit Mobility Project will build on the Transfer Advising Guides (TAGs) initiative by the Alamo Colleges. TAGs provides step-by-step information for students looking to transfer to a four-year institution, reducing the time to transfer and ensuring all credits apply toward their degree. The portal will give colleges and universities essential information on credit applicability, estimated costs, admissions, advising, and financial aid.
“We are proud to join Alamo Colleges and the amazing progress they have made with the Transfer Advising Guides,” said Sue McMillin, President and CEO of Greater Texas Foundation. “With the technical infrastructure this funding provides, we are confident they will continue to improve credit mobility for Alamo College students no matter where their postsecondary pursuits take them.”
In 2020, Transfer Advising Guides (TAGs) saved students $374 million in tuition
Since 2015, the Alamo Colleges District has offered seamless pathways that lead to student success through its TAGs. At that time, students took an average of 92 hours to complete a 60-hour degree. Students who start at the Alamo Colleges now earn their degree, which requires 60 semester credit hours, an average of 65.1 hours, compared to the Texas state average of 80 credit hours.
Despite 80 percent of community college students intending to transfer, only one-third of those who started at a community college during the 2015–16 academic year successfully transferred to a four-year institution, according to a recent report. Half – 48 percent – of those upward transfers earned a bachelor’s degree.
TAGs provide a two-year, course-by-course crosswalk from the Alamo Colleges to the university of the student’s choice by reverse mapping all required university degree requirements for each university major to an Alamo Colleges pre-major. These seamless transfer pathways allow students to transfer with degree applicability. As of the 2023-2024 academic year, the Alamo Colleges have developed over 3,000 TAGs.
On average, TAGs provide $40,215 savings at public universities and $65,435 at private universities over a two year period. In 2020, the potential savings for the 8,324 students who transferred and followed an agreed-upon TAGs for the university of their choice was $374 million.
About the Alamo Colleges District
At the Alamo Colleges District, high-quality education and affordable costs provide exceptional value to students and alumni who are major contributors to the economy and culture of the community.
About Greater Texas Foundation
Greater Texas Foundation is a private foundation based in Bryan, Texas, that supports efforts to ensure all Texas students are prepared for, have access to, persist in, and complete a postsecondary education. Since its 2001 inception, the foundation has approved more than $148 million in grants to support Texas students. For more information, visit https://www.greatertexasfoundation.org/