With the University of Washington closing the door on community college transfer students for fall and winter quarters, more applicants are looking north for their bachelor degrees.
The university’s Seattle campus has turned down about 800 qualified transfer students for fall quarter, deferring their enrollment to winter or spring, UW officials said.
“We just don’t have enough space in the system,” said Norm Arkans, associate vice president for university relations.
“The prediction is that winter is full and there might be some slack in spring, but if there is any, it’s not going to be much,” he said.
Hundreds of community college transfer students were also deferred at the UW this year.
UW’s long-held admission guarantee to students with a 2.75 grade point average and a transfer degree is going away this fall.
A more competitive application process – similar to what is faced by incoming freshmen – is replacing it, said Tim Washburn, UW’s assistant vice president for enrollment services.
The UW will continue to stick to its commitment of accepting 30 percent of its undergraduate classes from community college transfer students, UW officials said.
Problem is, that’s not enough to meet the growing demand. There are increasing numbers of freshmen and transfer students trying to get into colleges across the state, and it is not expected to peak until 2010.
The state Board of Community and Technical Colleges predicts there will be 5,200 more students a year with transfer degrees from community colleges wanting to get into four-year universities by 2012. About 14,000 students transfer from two-year colleges each year.
The crunch in Seattle is of increasing interest at the UW’s Bothell campus, a 13-year-old branch campus geared for juniors, seniors and graduate students.
UW-Bothell offers programs in business, computing and software systems, environmental science, interdisciplinary studies and nursing.
UW-Bothell, which expects between 1,680 and 1,700 students next fall, has some openings but is filling fast, said Tana Hasart, the school’s director of student affairs. There will be more openings for winter and spring quarters.
Sometimes when people hear the UW is full in Seattle, they assume it is also full in Bothell, she said.
“That name recognition is a two-edged sword. On any given day, it’s a good thing or a bad thing,” Hasart said.
“We are still in the process of reviewing applications here, and we are not through with that process,” she added.
Late last week, the number of openings varied from program to program from 10 each in business and environmental science to about 20 in computing and software.
Wade Sugiyama, 21, of Edmonds, attended the university’s Seattle campus but is now enrolled at Bothell.
He tried unsuccessfully to get into the business program in Seattle but was accepted at UW-Bothell. In hindsight, he is glad it turned out that way.
“It’s a viable choice and an excellent program,” he said.
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