Understanding Articulation Agreements: A Guide for Community College Students

If you are completing an associate degree at a community college, you may decide that transferring to a four-year college or university after graduation is the best move for you. As you begin your college search, you may come across information about "articulation agreements."  

What are articulation agreements?

Articulation agreements are formal agreements between universities and community colleges that help students identify a direct path from community college to university and to graduation. All while optimizing the number of credits that will transfer and directly apply to the bachelor's degree program of study. Put simply, the Office of Transfer and Adult Student Outreach explains that these agreements outline courses students can take at both institutions to meet degree requirements at both.

How do I find out if what I want to study is part of an articulation agreement?

The Office of Transfer and Adult Student Outreach works closely with community colleges and ETSU teams to create mutually beneficial articulation agreements. Currently, six states have at least one community college offering an articulated program with ETSU, totaling more than 150 individual articulation agreements. Popular online bachelor's degree options include:

• Allied Health Leadership

• Applied Science

• Dental Hygiene

• Early Care and Education (mostly online)

• Interdisciplinary Studies

• Radiologic Science

• Respiratory Therapy

• RN-BSN

For a full list of articulation agreement programs, including on-ground and additional online options, visit the Transfer Articulation Agreements page.

Good to Know: ETSU recently expanded partnerships with two local community colleges. ETSU has had a long-standing partnership with Northeast State Community College (TN) and recently added a pathway from Northeast State's Associate of Applied Science in Radiologic Technology to ETSU's Radiologic Science, B.S. degree program.  

Additionally, ETSU and Mountain Empire Community College (VA) finalized new agreements for several Associate of Applied Science degree programs to ETSU's Respiratory Therapy and Applied Science bachelor's degree programs.

Check out these news stories for more details:  

• ETSU and Northeast State expand radiologic technology pathway

• ETSU and MECC to expand transfer pathways

If my program is not part of an articulation agreement, can I still transfer to ETSU?

Yes! ETSU accepts transfer credit from most institutions and has partnerships with many community colleges in Tennessee and some border states.  

When you apply, you will need to request an official transcript from any college in which you’ve previously been enrolled. In this previous blog post, we outline several resources transfer students can use to get started, including:  

• Transfer Course Equivalency Tables. The Transfer Course Equivalency Table lists colleges, organized by state, whose course credits ETSU has evaluated in the past.  

• Transfer Works System. Transfer Works is a degree planning tool where you can enter your completed courses one by one to get an idea of how they may transfer to ETSU.  

Ready to begin?

ETSU admissions created an Applying as a Transfer Student page to get you started. You can view application requirements, deadlines, and scholarships and financial aid for transfer students.

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