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| UMUC |
There are many reasons students choose to move schools. Often money issues areinvolved. Or sometimes it’s a question of academics or a desire to be closer tohome. And community college students make up a huge percentage of studentsmoving from one institution to another.
Even the Commander-in-Chief transferred during his college career.
Based on data provided through the CDS, Arizona State University enrolled 6,158transfer students and ranked number one among the nonprofit institutionsproviding transfer data. And threeschools in the California State University system each drew more than 3,500transfers and ranked three, seven, and thirteen respectively.
Also among the toptransfer-friendly institutions were UMUC (3894), George Mason University(2452), Old Dominion University (2298), Virginia Commonwealth University(2007), Towson University (1971), and the University of Maryland College Park(1899).
A quick review of local colleges and universities suggests a much more limitedability to accommodate transfer students. According to CommonData Set information, far fewer transfers were to be found at Johns Hopkins (37) and the University of Richmond (48). George Washington accepted 27 percent of itstransfer applicants and enrolled 310 students, while Georgetown accepted 23 percent andenrolled 230 and
The University of Virginia accepted 40percent of those applying to transfer and enrolled 653, at the same time the College of William & Mary accepted 43 percentand enrolled 202.
Among the local colleges admitting the highest percent of transfer applicantswere James Madison University at 50 percent as well as the University of Mary Washington, ChristopherNewport University, and American University—allat 67 percent which is only slightly above the previous national average citedby USNWR of 61.9 percent.
The following is the USNWRlist of 10 schools enrolling the most transfer students:
- Arizona State University (6158)
- University of Central Florida (5896)
- Cal State Northridge (4477)
- Florida International University (4527)
- University of Texas—Arlington (4315)
- University of Houston (4171)
- Cal State Fullerton and Texas A&M—Commerce(4165)
- UMUC (3894)
- University of North Texas (3891)
- SanFrancisco State University (3760)
- TexasState University—San Marcos (3611)
- CalState Sacramento (3556)
- FloridaAtlantic University (3425)
- NorthwestFlorida State College (3272)
- Universityof South Florida (3242)
Note that the numberscited are from the 2010-11 CDS currently used by USNWR. For more recent information, you may want toresearch 2011-12 CDS data posted on individual websites.
Although the critical March 2nd deadline for the FAFSA has come and gone, you can still file yours and receive one very important grant.
Want help? You don’t have to simply accept the aid that is offered, according to Reecy Aresty of PayLessForCollege.com, who specializes in helping you gently negotiate a higher award of money that does not have to be repaid.Arresty offers a free review of financial aid packages to my readers. If you hire him to negotiate on your behalf, the fee ranges from $195 to $395, depending on the number of schools involved. You can e-mail him at Reecy@PayLessforCollege.com.Says Aresty: “Although May 1 is the deadline for non-refundable deposits at many schools, some families opt to make multiple deposits in order to keep the aid appeals process going beyond May 1.” Aresty notes that if the aid offers are close, it may be worth losing a deposit at one school to gain more grants of money at another.Signing on for a financial aid package is one of the largest financial decisions any family can make, so do your research and don’t just look at the bottom line. Like your home mortgage, you expect to repay this loan over the years, while the value of the asset — your home or your education— grows over the years. As we’ve all learned, that’s a good idea over the long run — but the payments can be a huge burden over the short run
At this point, if you haven't already filed the FAFSA, you may just think of it as a big headache. However, you don't have to rush through it! You can do a test run of FAFSA on the Web by going to www.studentaid.gov and then to the FAFSA demonstration site. This is a good idea, as you will get a preview of the documentation that you (and your parents) will need to complete the form, such as annual tax return, earnings records, Social Security numbers, and so on, and of the amount of time you'll need to fill in the form.TIP: You may not be done with financial aid forms even after you complete FAFSA. Sometimes, colleges may require additional information and will ask you to complete their own forms or the College Scholarship Service (CSS) PROFILE (www.fafsa.com/profile.htm), another widely used form to help determine eligibility for financial aid. Scholarships often have their own special application forms.It doesn't cost you anything but time (and some aggravation) to make the FAFSA application. Help in completing the form is available from your high school, the college financial aid office (which often has workshops for parents and students, sometimes at your local high school), and as well as online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
