- Programs of Study

TCL Programs of Study

Programs of Study

The College offers programs in some of the Lowcountry’s and the nation’s fastest growing career fields. The variety of programs, small class sizes, and up-to-date technology give students the competitive edge in getting the job they want. Representatives from area businesses serve on TCL’s Advisory Committees to ensure that the College’s programs provide students with the skills that employers want. A comprehensive financial assistance program puts college within reach of any student who desires an education. Students using financial aid funds to pay for courses must take courses only in their program of study. Students are responsible for all charges related to the registration of courses out of their program of study.

Degree, Diploma & Certificate Programs

TCL offers degree, diploma and certificate programs. The curriculum requirements for each program and descriptions of required and elective courses may be found in the following pages of this catalog. Course information for TCL programs is updated annually. The most current information is available at the Admissions Office or the Academic Division offering a particular program. Students admitted to the College and those who maintain continuous enrollment in a selected program of study may expect to complete programs as stated in the College catalog at the time of their admission for a period of six years, as long as the program is offered. A student who must reapply for admission enters the College under the catalog published at the time of readmission. If major revisions of curricular or program requirements have occurred, a reasonable effort will be made by the Division Dean to permit the continuously enrolled student to undertake a transitional program.

Approved Humanities Electives for TCL’s Associate Degree Programs

College Transfer Programs

Associate in Arts and Associate in Science

The College Transfer program provides the student with the first two years of college or university work. Students in this program can earn an Associate in Arts (AA) or Associate in Science (AS) degree. Students completing the requirements for an AA or AS degree will be prepared to transfer to a senior institution to complete a baccalaureate degree.

It is important to note that students seeking guaranteed transfer of all credits to South Carolina publicly supported colleges be enrolled in the Associate in Arts or Associate in Science College Transfer program. TCL offers other associate degrees that will transfer wholly or in part to other college/universities, but only those designated as college transfer programs guarantee full transfer. Courses that are approved for transfer to South Carolina’s public universities/colleges are listed on the South Carolina Transfer and Articulation Center (SCTRAC) website at www.SCTRAC.org and also the Commission on Higher Education’s website under Institutional Transfer Guide at www.che.sc.gov. A student entering TCL should work with his/her academic advisor to select appropriate courses to develop his/her program for transfer. The student should also discuss transferring with a representative from the college/university to which he/she expects to transfer.

Transferring Credits

All of the courses required to complete the two year AA/AS programs may be transferred to any four-year public university or college in South Carolina as well as selected out-of-state universities. Students planning to transfer to a four-year school are encouraged to plan their program with their academic advisor.

State Policies and Procedures

Regulations and Procedures for Transfer in Public Two-Year and Public Four-Year Institutions in South Carolina as Mandated by Act 137 of 1995 (revised to 86 courses, 9/2002).

Background

Section 10-C of the South Carolina School-to-Work Transition Act (1994) stipulates that the Council of College and University Presidents and the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education, operating through the Commission on Higher Education, will develop better articulation of associate and baccalaureate degree programs. To comply with this requirement, the Commission upon the advice of the Council of Presidents established a Transfer Articulation Policy Committee composed of four-year institutions’ vice presidents for academic affairs and the Associate Director for Instruction of the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education. The principal outcomes derived from the work of that committee and accepted by the Commission on Higher Education on July 6, 1995, were:

• An expanded list of 86 courses which will transfer to four-year public institutions of South Carolina from the two-year public institutions;
• A statewide policy document on good practices in transfer to be followed by all public institutions of higher education in the State of South Carolina, which was accepted in principle by the Advisory Committee on Academic Programs and the Commission;
• Six task forces on statewide transfer agreements, each based in a discipline or broad area of the baccalaureate curriculum.

In 1995 the General Assembly passed Act 137 which stipulated further that the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education “notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, will have the following additional duties and functions with regard to the various public institutions of higher education.” These duties and responsibilities include the Commission’s responsibility “to establish procedures for the transferability of courses at the undergraduate level between two-year and four-year institutions or schools.” This same provision is repeated in the legislation developed from the Report of the Joint Legislative Study Committee, which was formed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor as Act 359 of 1996.

Act 137 directs the Commission to adopt procedures for the transfer of courses from all two-year public to all four-year public institutions of higher education in South Carolina. Proposed procedures are listed below. Unless otherwise stated, these procedures became effective immediately upon approval by the Commission and were to be fully implemented, unless otherwise stated, by September 1, 1997.

Statewide Articulation of 86 Courses

1. The Statewide Articulation Agreement of 86 courses approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education for transfer from two- to four-year public institutions (See Appendix A in full document online at www.che.sc.gov) will be applicable to all public institutions, including two-year institutions and institutions within the same system. In instances where an institution does not have synonymous courses to ones on this list, it will identify comparable courses or course categories for acceptance of general education courses on the statewide list. This list of courses is available on the South Carolina Transfer and Articulation Center (SCTRAC) website at www.SCTRAC.org and also the Commission on Higher Education’s website under Institutional Transfer Guide at www.che.sc.gov

Admissions Criteria, Course Grades, GPAs, Validations

2. All four-year public institutions will issue annually in August a transfer guide covering at least the following items:
   • The definition of a transfer student and requirements for admission both to the institution and, if more selective, requirements for admission to particular programs.
   • Limitations placed by the institution or its programs for acceptance of standardized examinations (e.g., SAT, ACT) taken more than a given time ago, for academic coursework taken elsewhere, for coursework repeated due to failure, for coursework taken at another institution while the student is academically suspended at his/her home institution, and so forth.
   • Institutional and, if more selective, programmatic maximums of course credits allowable in transfer.
   • Institutional procedures used to calculate student applicants’ GPAs for transfer admission. Such procedures will describe how nonstandard grades (withdrawal, withdrawal failing, repeated course, etc.) are evaluated; and they will also describe whether all coursework taken prior to transfer or just coursework deemed appropriate to the student’s intended four-year program of study is calculated for purposes of admission to the institution and/or programmatic major.
   • Lists of all courses accepted from each technical college (including the 86 courses in the Statewide Articulation Agreement) and the course equivalencies (including “free elective” category) found at the home institution for the courses accepted.
   • Lists of all articulation agreements with any public South Carolina two-year or other institution of higher education, together with information about how interested parties can access these agreements.
   • Lists of the institution’s Transfer Officer(s) personnel together with telephone and FAX numbers, office address, and e-mail address.
   • Institutional policies related to “academic bankruptcy” (i.e., removing an entire transcript or parts thereof from a failed or underachieving record after a period of years has passed) so that re-entry into the four-year institution with course credit earned in the interim elsewhere is done without regard to the student’s earlier record.
   • “Residency requirements” for the minimum number of hours required to be earned at the institution for the degree.
3. Coursework (individual courses, transfer blocks, statewide agreements) covered within these procedures will be transferable if the student has successful completion of the coursework with a “C” grade (2.0 on a 4.0 scale) or above, but transfer of grades does not relieve the student of the obligation to meet any G.P.A. requirements or other admissions requirements of the institution or program to which application has been made.
   • Any four-year institution which has institutional or programmatic admissions requirements for transfer students with cumulative grade point averages (GPAs) higher than 2.0 on a 4.0 scale will apply such entrance requirements equally to transfer students from regionally accredited South Carolina public institutions regardless of whether students are transferring from a four-year or two-year institution.
   • Any multi-campus institution or system will certify by letter to the Commission that all coursework at all of its campuses applicable to a particular degree program of study is fully acceptable in transfer to meet degree requirements in the same degree program at any other of its campuses.
4. Any coursework (individual courses, transfer blocks, statewide agreements) covered within these procedures will be transferable to any public institution without any additional fee and without any further encumbrance such as a “validation examination,” “placement examination/instrument,” “verification instrument,” or any other stricture, notwithstanding any institutional or system policy, procedure, or regulation to the contrary.

Transfer Blocks, Statewide Agreements, Completion of the AA/AS Degree

5. The following Transfer Blocks/Statewide Agreements taken at any two-year public institution in South Carolina will be accepted in their totality toward meeting baccalaureate degree requirements at all four-year public institutions in relevant four-year degree programs, as follows:
   • Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: Established curriculum block of 46-48 semester hours
   • Business Administration: Established curriculum block of 46-51 semester hours
   • Engineering: Established curriculum block of 33 semester hours
   • Science and Mathematics: Established curriculum block of 51-53 semester hours
   • Teacher Education: Established curriculum block of 38-39 semester hours for Early Childhood, Elementary, and Special Education students only. Secondary education majors and students seeking certification who are not majoring in teacher education should consult the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences or the Math and Science transfer blocks, as relevant, to assure transferability of coursework.
   • Nursing: By statewide agreement, at least 60 semester hours will be accepted by any public four-year institution toward the baccalaureate completion program (BSN) from graduates of any South Carolina public associate degree program in nursing (ADN), provided that the program is accredited by the National League of Nursing and that the graduate has successfully passed the National Licensure Examination (NCLEX) and is a currently licensed Registered Nurse

(For complete texts and information about these statewide transfer blocks/agreements, see Appendix B in full document online at www.che.sc.gov)

6. Any “unique” academic program not specifically or by extension covered by one of the statewide transfer blocks/agreements listed in #4 above must either create its own transfer block of 35 or more credit hours with the approval of CHE staff or will adopt either the Arts/Social Science/Humanities or the Science/ Mathematics block. The institution at which such program is located will inform the staff of the CHE and every institutional president and vice president for academic affairs about this decision.
7. Any student who has completed either an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree program at any public two-year South Carolina institution which contains within it the total coursework found in either the Arts/Social Sciences/Humanities Transfer Block or the Math/Science Transfer Block will automatically be entitled to junior-level status or its equivalent at whatever public senior institution to which the student might have been admitted. (Note: As agreed by the Committee on Academic Affairs, junior status applies only to campus activities such as priority order for registration for courses, residence hall assignments, parking, athletic event tickets, etc. and not in calculating academic degree credits.)

Related Reports and Statewide Documents

8. All applicable recommendations found in the Commission’s report to the General Assembly on the School-to-Work Act (approved by the Commission and transmitted to the General Assembly on July 6, 1995) are hereby incorporated into the procedures for transfer of coursework among two- and four-year institutions.
9. The policy paper entitled State Policy on Transfer and Articulation, as amended to reflect changes in the numbers of transfer blocks and other Commission action since July 6, 1995, is hereby adopted as the statewide policy for institutional good practice in the sending and receiving of all course credits to be transferred. (Contact the Division of Academic Affairs for copies of this report.)

Assurance of Quality

10. All claims from any public two- or four-year institution challenging the effective preparation of any other public institution’s coursework for transfer purposes will be evaluated and appropriate measures will be taken to reassure that the quality of the coursework has been reviewed and approved on a timely basis by sending and receiving institutions alike. This process of formal review will occur every four years through the staff of the Commission on Higher Education, beginning with the approval of these procedures.

Statewide Publication and Distribution of Information on Transfer

11. The staff of the Commission on Higher Education will print and distribute copies of these Procedures upon their acceptance by the Commission. The staff will also place this document and the Appendices on the Commission’s Home Page on the Internet under the title “Transfer Policies.”
12. By September 1 of each year, all public four-year institutions will place the following materials on their internet websites:
    1. A copy of this entire document.
    2. A copy of the institution’s transfer guide.
13. By September 1 of each year, the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education will place the following materials on its internet website:
    1. A copy of this entire document.
    2. Provide to the Commission staff in format suitable for placing on the Commission’s website a list of all articulation agreements that each of the sixteen technical colleges has with public and other four-year institutions of higher education, together with information about how interested parties can access those agreements.
14. Each two-year and four-year public institutional catalog will contain a section entitled “Transfer: State Policies and Procedures.” Such section at a minimum will:
    1. Publish these procedures in their entirety (except Appendices)
    2. Designate a chief Transfer Officer at the institution who will:
       • provide information and other appropriate support for students considering transfer and recent transfers
       • serve as a clearinghouse for information on issues of transfer in the State of South Carolina
       • provide definitive institutional rulings on transfer questions for the institution’s students under these procedures
       • work closely with feeder institutions to assure ease in transfer for their students
    3. Designate other programmatic Transfer Officer(s) as the size of the institution and the variety of its programs might warrant
    4. Refer interested parties to the institutional Transfer Guide
    5. Refer interested parties to institutional and Commission on Higher Education’s websites for further information regarding transfer.
15. In recognition of its widespread acceptance and use throughout the United States, SPEEDE/EXPRESS should be adopted by all public institutions and systems as the standard for electronic transmission of all student transfer data.
16. In conjunction with the colleges and universities, develop and implement a statewide Transfer Equivalency Database at the earliest opportunity.
    
    (As an electronic counseling guide, this computerized, on-line instrument will allow students and advisors to access all degree requirements for every major at every public four-year institution in South Carolina. Also, the Database will allow students to obtain a better understanding of institutional programs and program requirements and select their transfer courses accordingly, especially when the student knows the institution and the major to which he/she is transferring.)

Transfer Blocks, Statewide Agreements, Completion of the AA/AS Degree

17. Adopt a common statewide course numbering system for common freshman and sophomore courses of the technical colleges, two-year regional campuses of the University of South Carolina, and the senior institutions.
18. Adopt common course titles and descriptions for common freshman and sophomore courses of the technical colleges, two-year regional campuses of the University of South Carolina, and the senior institutions. The Commission will convene statewide disciplinary groups to engage in formal dialogue for these purposes.
    
    (A common course numbering system and common course titles and descriptions for lower-division coursework at all public institutions in the state can help reduce confusion among students about the equivalency of their two-year coursework with lower-division coursework at the four-year level. To this end, a common system leaves no doubt about the comparability of content, credit, and purpose among the lower-division courses at all public colleges and universities in South Carolina. It would also help eliminate institutional disagreement over the transferability of much lower-division coursework, thus clearing a path for easier movement between the technical colleges and senior institutions.)

South Carolina Transfer and Articulation Center (SCTRAC)

All two-and four-year public institutions will publish information related to course articulation and transfer, including but not limited to items A through E mentioned above, on the South Carolina Transfer and Articulation Center website (www.SCTRAC.org). Course equivalency information listing all courses accepted from each institution in the state (including the 86 courses in the Statewide Articulation Agreement) and their respective course equivalencies – including courses in the “free elective” category) will be made available on www.SCTRAC.org. This course equivalency information will be updated as equivalencies are added or changed and will be reviewed annually for accuracy. Additionally, articulation agreements between public South Carolina institutions of higher education will be made available on www.SCTRAC.org, will be updated as articulation agreements are added or changed, and will be reviewed annually for accuracy. All other transfer information published on www.SCTRAC.org will be reviewed at least annually and updated as needed.

Approved Courses for AA and AS College Transfer Program

Articulation and Transfer

TCL participates in a statewide articulation agreement with South Carolina’s publicly supported colleges and universities (see Transferring Credits, p. 63). In addition to the courses included in the statewide agreement, many courses transfer from TCL to senior institutions both in and out-of-state. Students should check with institutions to which they are seeking admission to determine the particular courses and the exact number of credits that college/university may accept in transfer.

Publicly supported colleges/universities in South Carolina include but are not limited to The Citadel, Clemson University, Coastal Carolina University, College of Charleston, Francis Marion University, Lander University, Medical University of South Carolina, South Carolina State University, University of South Carolina - Columbia, University of South Carolina - Beaufort, University of South Carolina - Aiken, University of South Carolina - Upstate, Winthrop University. The most up-to-date information is available at www.sctrac.org.