Northern Essex, UMass Lowell In New Transfer Agreement
By State House News Service | March 2, 2023, 21:03 EST
By Michael P. Norton
State House News Service
About 900 students have transferred from Northern Essex Community College to UMass Lowell in the last six years, and a new agreement aims to keep that flow moving.
The two public higher education institutions on Wednesday announced an agreement to enhance the transfer process. Upon acceptance to Northern Essex, which has campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence, students who opt into joint admissions on their application will also be conditionally accepted to UMass Lowell.
The agreement is effective immediately. Upon completion of their associate degree, joint admissions students will have priority registration at UMass Lowell, get priority for merit scholarships, and they will be exempt from UMass’s core curriculum. UMass Lowell will also waive the application fee.
“The world is changing,” said UMass Lowell chancellor Julie Chen. “And we’re recognizing that the pathways to education are also changing. We know that Northern Essex is a key piece of this ecosystem and a partner for us because NECC provides that critical, early support.”
According to Northern Essex president Lane Glenn, nearly half of adults in Massachusetts have a bachelor’s degree.
“Geography is destiny: 28 percent of adults in Haverhill have a bachelor’s degree, and 14 percent of adults in Lawrence 25 years or older have a bachelor’s degree or higher,” Glenn said. “So, efforts like this are a cause for social justice, they’re a cause for addressing the workforce’s needs, and they’re a cause for changing many lives of families in the future.”
The agreement does not apply to students wishing to transfer into the UMass Lowell Nursing Program. Graduates of Northern Essex’s Associate in Science in Nursing program are able to transition into Emmanuel College’s online Bachelor of Science in Nursing program under an agreement announced last summer.
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