Apply an opt-out consent policy for reverse transfer awards

Two-year to four-yearwith adaptationFour-year to two-yearappliesFour-year to four-yearwith adaptation

Qualify

MnSCU reversed opt-out to opt-in, which substantially reduced awards. Take-up low even under opt-out (Hawaii 387 of 12,719)

Mechanism

Transcripts are audited automatically and the associate degree is conferred unless the student opts out. The drop-off comes from asking students to sign an opt-in form, so the form is removed.

Preconditions

Systemwide degree audit automation and a FERPA-compliant data exchange.

Owner, by role

System Registrar / Director of Reverse Transfer

Who can act

System, state or accreditor

Effort

Large, 12 months to first visible effect

Outcome metric

Reverse transfer degrees awarded; later bachelor's completion

Failure modes

Legal counsels may block the opt-out policy due to over-conservative interpretations of FERPA regulations regarding data exchange.

Contra-indications

If the student would face negative financial aid consequences from receiving an associate degree (e.g., certain institutional aid limits), "opt-out" could be harmful.

Related practices

LTI-OPS-021 Audit systemwide student records centrally for reverse transfer eligibility