Ohio Transfer Initiatives

The State of Ohio, through the leadership of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, has established a coherent statewide policy intended to facilitate students’ ability to complete their highest level of educational goal achievement seamlessly within Ohio’s postsecondary educational system. To that end, the Ohio Articulation and Transfer policy (available online at: http://regents.ohio.gov/transfer/policy/index.php) was developed to facilitate the transfer of students and credits from any state-assisted college or university to another. It encourages faculty recognition of comparable and compatible learning experiences and expectations across institutions. It also encourages students to complete units of educational experience as they progress [e.g., transfer assurance guides, Ohio transfer modules, and associate and baccalaureate degrees].

Ohio Guaranteed Transfer Pathways

Section 3333.16(C) of the Ohio Revised Code was signed into law in June 2015. This law requires the Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education to develop a process to establish statewide guaranteed transfer pathways from two-year to four-year degree programs in an equivalent field. This effort is directly related to Ohio’s college affordability and degree completion initiatives. The Ohio Guaranteed Transfer Pathways Statewide Steering Committee was created and has begun work on implementing the legislation.

Ohio Transfer 36 (Formerly Ohio Transfer Module)

The Ohio Transfer 36 completed at one Ohio public college or university will automatically meet the requirements of the Ohio transfer module at the receiving public college or university once the student is accepted. Students seeking the associate of arts or associate of science degree must complete the appropriate general education/Ohio transfer module requirements as specified under the Conditions for Transfer Admission section. 

Transfer Assurance Guides

Statewide Transfer Assurance Guides (TAGs) are composed of general education courses (Ohio Transfer 36 courses) and specified courses required for the academic major. A TAG as an advising tool can assist Ohio university and community and technical college students planning specific majors to make course selections that will ensure comparable, compatible and equivalent learning experiences across the state’s higher-education system. Several area-specific TAG pathways in the arts, humanities, business, communication, education, health, mathematics, science, engineering, engineering technologies and the social sciences have been developed by faculty teams. Additional information on specific Transfer Assurance Guides can be found on the Ohio Department of Education website at http://regents.ohio.gov/transfer/tags/index.php.

TAGs empower students to make informed course selection decisions and plans for their future transfer. Advisory at the institution to which a student wishes to transfer should also be consulted during the transfer process. Because of specific major requirements, early identification of the intended major is encouraged.

For more information about TAGs and a list of LCCC’s TAG-approved courses, visit https://www.ohiohighered.org/transfer/tag.

Career Transfer Assurance Guides

Statewide CTAGs (Career Transfer Assurance Guides) are similar to TAGs but are composed of career-technical courses instead of general education courses. CTAGs can assist Ohio university and community and technical college students in making decisions on course selection that will ensure comparable, compatible and equivalent learning experiences between and among all public higher education institutions in Ohio and embody commonly accepted pathways to applied degree programs – both at the associate and baccalaureate levels – across the state.

Additional information on the Career Transfer Assurance Guides process may be found at https://www.ohiohighered.org/transfer.  

Industry Recognized Credential Transfer Assurance Guides (ITAG)

ITAGs are a statewide transfer initiative that guarantees the award of college-level credit to students earning agreed-upon industry-recognized credentials. The award of credit is based upon the knowledge, skills, and competencies gained through credential attainment, regardless of where the learning to prepare for the credential took place.

Military Transfer Assurance Guides (MTAG)

Statewide Military Transfer Assurance Guides (MTAG) are being developed to ensure that institutions and military students have access to this MTAG information. The Ohio Department of Higher Education will post MTAG information on www.ohiohighered.org and transfercredit.ohio.gov. The Ohio Department of Higher Education is encouraging institutions to take advantage of using Transferology™ to post all course equivalencies, including the statewide course equivalencies for military training, experience, and coursework, as this service is free to all Ohio institutions.

Transferology

Transferology is designed to provide students with accurate information about how courses transfer between colleges and universities and how they will apply toward the completion of a college degree. LCCC students are encouraged to access this site to check the transferability of courses and to work with their Academic Advisor to incorporate this system into their degree planning.

Transferology is a web-based program allowing students to track and check how their LCCC courses will transfer to other Ohio colleges and universities. With Transferology, students can: 

  1. Establish a Transferology account (free of charge).
  2. Store information on completed courses. 
  3. Obtain information on how Lorain County Community College courses transfer to other Ohio colleges and universities. 
  4. Request transfer guides that will provide information about: 
    • How courses transfer. 
    • How courses apply to the intended major after transferring. 
    • What courses are still needed to complete a degree after transferring? 
  5. Obtain information about how courses from other Ohio colleges and universities transfer to Lorain County Community College.

To access Transferology, go to www.transferology.com or www.lorainccc.edu/transfer.  

As with TAGs, advisors at the institution where a student wishes to transfer should be consulted during the course selection/transfer preparation process.

Ohio Articulation Number (OAN)

Statewide faculty committees have reviewed pre-major courses that represent the commonly accepted pathway to majors within the bachelor’s degree (TAGs). Courses or course sequences meeting established learning outcome standards are assigned discipline-specific OANs. When consensus is established, and a course is noted with both the colleges or universities' departmental designation and the assigned Ohio Articulation Number (OAN), students are assured not only of the equivalency of the courses but of their application to the degree objective. A complete listing of Lorain County Community College’s OAN-approved courses can be found at http://regents.ohio.gov/transfer/tags/index.php.

One-Year Option

The One-Year Option establishes an articulation system whereby adults who complete a career-technical education program of study consisting of a minimum of 900 clock hours and achieve an industry-recognized credential approved by the Chancellor shall receive thirty (30) semester hours of technical course credit toward a standardized Associate of Technical Study Degree (ATS) upon matriculation at a public institution of higher education in Ohio that confers such a degree. The 30 semester hours will be awarded as a block of credit (rather than credit for specific courses) and will satisfy the technical course requirements for the ATS degree. Proportional credit is to be awarded toward the ATS degree for adults who complete a program of study between 600 and 899 clock hours.

The One-Year Option builds upon Ohio’s articulation and transfer system to help more adults accelerate their preparation for work by earning a technical associate degree. Consistent with the Career-Technical Assurance Guides (CTAGs) philosophy, the One-Year Option guarantees that college credit will be awarded for college-level learning at career-technical institutions. The credit earned through the One-Year Option will be applied to ATS degrees bearing the following standardized degree titles:

  1. Associate of Technical Study in Building and Industrial Technology
  2. Associate of Technical Study in Business Technology
  3. Associate of Technical Study in Health and Allied Health Technology
  4. Associate of Technical Study in Information Technology
  5. Associate of Technical Study in Services Technology

Inter-institutional credit affirmation teams provide oversight for the One-Year Option through peer reviews of the career-technical education program of study and certifications to affirm that students who complete each program and approved certification(s) demonstrate competencies equivalent to 30 (or proportional) technical course credits.[16]

Advising resources are available to guide students considering enrolling in either a One-Year Option program of study or a Career-Technical Assurance Guide (CTAG) program of study. Effective advising is essential to inform the decision about which pathway is most appropriate to advance each student’s immediate and future career and academic goals.

Section 363.120 of House Bill 59 of the 130th General Assembly provided the impetus for the One-Year Option.[17]

Secondary One-Year Option

To provide statewide access to secondary students, specified programs will now be eligible through the Secondary One-Year Option. Secondary Career Technical Education programs that meet the criteria below will be reviewed for approval.

a) culminate in a credential equivalent to the credential earned through an approved Ohio Technical Center program for which there is an approved template,
b) have instruction time equivalent to the required clock hours listed on the approved template, and
c) have no CTAG discipline or course level CTAN approved for a secondary career-technical pathway or designated as an in-demand area.