University shows commitment to transfer students

Binghamton University took in a record 1,000 transfer students this fall, the University Council was told during its Oct. 15 meeting.

Those transfer students came to Binghamton with an average GPA of 3.4, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Sandra Starke told the council members during an enrollment presentation. The University added 719 transfer students in 2009, and 844 in 2007, Starke said.

“We didn’t just take lots of students (this year),” Starke said. “We took top-quality transfer students. We are an affordable institution and transferring in is an important way for students to access the institution.”

Transfer students now make up 39 percent of the University’s total enrollment, Starke said.

“This campus is committed to maximizing the potential of transfers,” Interim Provost Jean-Pierre Mileur said, adding that one goal is for transfer students to graduate at the same rate as other students.

“More and more students over the last three years are looking at community colleges as viable options,” Starke said. “That’s because smart high school students recognize that community college is college. They go there, excel and then transfer to really good schools like Binghamton University.”

Close to half of transfer students come from Broome Community College, with others coming from Suffolk, Nassau, Rockland, Onondaga and Tompkins Cortland community colleges.

Starke emphasized the University’s commitment to BCC, highlighting events such as instant admission days.

“We are there all of the time working with students and counseling them,” she said. “We are working to make sure there is a seamless transition between the community college experience and the four-year experience.”

Transfer students also help provide geographic diversity for the University, Starke said. For example, 22 percent of the student body comes from Long Island; 19 percent is from New York City and 7 percent is from Westchester and Rockland counties.

“It’s important to bring students in from different cultures and different perspectives so that the institution can have great discussion in and out of the classroom,” she said.

Other statistics from the presentation:

• Fall enrollment rose to 14,925. “We’ve been on a growth trajectory,” Starke said. “We’ve been able to grow in part because we are attractive to students around the state and across the nation.”
• Applications decreased by almost 2,000 to 31,737. Starke attributed this to factors including the University’s increased selectivity.
• Sixty-five percent of students apply for financial aid and 16 percent of students have family incomes below $14,000.
• Half of Binghamton University’s students have an SAT score in the top 15 percent of the nation.