What if you could get everything you want out of college but keep cost—and therefore debt—to a minimum?
Beginning your college career at a community college is a smart choice. If you're from Massachusetts, attending one of the bachelor's degree-granting colleges or universities within the Massachusetts Public Higher Education system is already one of your most affordable options. However, your tuition and fees can cost half as much if you were enrolled at one of the System's Community Colleges!
To help you leverage those savings toward completion of a bachelor's degree, Massachusetts’ public community colleges, state universities, and University of Massachusetts (the System) campuses have joined together to offer a variety of cost-saving transfer pathways to reduce the overall out-of-pocket expense of a bachelor’s degree. These pathways vary in requirements and total expected savings, so be sure to explore your options and choose the best pathway for you.
MassTransfer provides the following benefit to transfer students who complete the General Education Foundation at a college or university within the System:
MassTransfer seeks to reward community college students who complete associate degrees at Massachusetts community colleges before they enroll in linked bachelor’s programs at state universities or UMass campuses within the System.
MassTransfer students who have completed an A2B Mapped Pathway receive the following benefits:
A2B Mapped Pathways guarantee that courses listed and taken as major requirements will be accepted as major requirements at the receiving institution. Full-time students following A2B Mapped Pathway students may also choose to participate in the Commonwealth Commitment to achieve the highest possible cost savings among all MassTransfer options.
A2B Linked agreements also guarantee that 60 credits will transfer. However, because these pathways are not mapped between institutions, a "major-to-major" guarantee does not apply. At the discretion of the receiving institution, credits may be accepted as into your major, as general education, or as electives.
MassTransfer students following an A2B Mapped Pathway may choose to participate in the Commonwealth Commitment program. "ComCom" students agree to:
"ComCom" students enjoy the following benefits in addition to those of the General Education Foundation and A2B levels:
Students who transferred from a community college prior to completing their associate degree may apply to have credits transferred back to the community college from the state university or UMass campus. Doing so would allow students to retroactively complete their associate degree while continuing their progress on bachelor’s degree completion.
If you are not following one of the MassTransfer Pathways, there are still transfer options available that let you take advantage of the course and program maps that have been created—search for course equivalencies between our community colleges, state universities or UMass campuses.
Many community colleges have additional transfer agreements and campus equivalency guides with public and private colleges and universities that do not fall under the MassTransfer statewide policy.
If you're looking to transfer from a Massachusetts community college to a four-year independent college, you may be able to take advantage of the Massachusetts Independent College Transfer Guarantee (MA-Guarantee).
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