Delaware County Community College and Lincoln University Presidents Announce New Transfer Agreement that Will Benefit Students
(Delaware & Chester Counties, PA • November 30, 2020)—The presidents of Delaware County Community College and Lincoln University held a virtual ceremony today to officially announce a new agreement that will allow qualified students who graduate from the College to transfer to the University with full junior standing, thereby reducing their cost and time to baccalaureate degree completion.
Known as a dual admission and core-to-core transfer agreement, the agreement provides students, who graduate from the College with an Associate in Arts degree or Associate in Science degree in a parallel Lincoln University major, guaranteed admission to the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University. A total of 17 Associate in Arts and Associate in Science programs are included under the agreement. It is the first time the two institutions have come together to sign such an agreement.
Under the agreement, the University will accept the general education requirements of the College as meeting all of the University’s undergraduate core curriculum requirements, allowing students to transfer entire core courses, not just College credits, to the University. In addition, upon transferring to the University, qualified students will be eligible for guaranteed admission, a waiver of the University’s enrollment fee and a fixed-rate tuition based on the student’s first year at the University. Full-time students who qualify also will be eligible for a Lincoln University Lion Transfer Scholarship of up to $2,500. Students opting to reside on campus will be required to pay the $75 residence-life fee to secure housing.
The virtual ceremony held today began with a Lincoln University Concert Choir rendition of the André J. Thomas arranged hymn, “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning.” The ceremony featured Delaware County Community College President Dr. L. Joy Gates Black, Lincoln University President Dr. Brenda A. Allen, administrators from the two institutions.
“When we met, the first topic of discussion was ‘How can our institutions work more closely together to meet the needs of our students who desire to complete a bachelor’s degree?’,” Dr. Gates Black said of her first meeting with Dr. Allen. “ We agreed to work with our teams to think about ways to collaborate, and on December 16, 2019, we met at Lincoln to lay out what the articulation agreement between our institutions would look like. Of course, none of us had any idea about COVID 19 at that time, nor how it would impact our region, our state and our nation. Despite the pandemic, we persevered and today, thanks to the hard work of both the Delaware County and the Lincoln University teams we have a signed agreement. This agreement will offer significant opportunities for Delaware County Community College students who choose to transfer to Lincoln University after completing their associate degree.”
Dr. Allen agreed and said there are more partnerships to come between the two institutions.
“Providing a seamless pathway from the associate degree to the bachelor’s degree is what this agreement aims to achieve. Accordingly, the dual admission piece is only part of the project. In the coming months, Lincoln University will work with Delaware County Community College to help ensure that students have a clear 2 + 2 pathway to follow. This will entail working through the curricular requirements of both institutions so that students can enter directly into their major areas of study once the associate degree is completed. These pathways will be articulated for both Lincoln’s main campus and our adult completion programs at our School for Adult and Continuing Education in University City in Philadelphia,” Dr. Allen said.
Rumeel Jessamy, a dean’s list student at Delaware County Community College who transferred 60 College credits to Lincoln University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2018 with a computer science degree, has experienced the transformative education of both institutions. Jessamy, who earlier this year also earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Lincoln University, is a big proponent of the new transfer agreement and thinks it will greatly benefit students.
Today, Jessamy is a cryptographic software developer at IBM, who mentors, advocates for, and serves as an IBM ambassador to Lincoln University students. “At graduation from Lincoln, I had three job offers. I never thought there would be a day where I would have to turn down job offers with Facebook and Amazon! I accepted IBM's job offer because it was the most highly recommended and best overall fit,” Jessamy said, adding that he also plans next year to earn a master’s degree in computer science from the State University of New York at New Paltz.
In the future, Jessamy would like to run his own business and own real estate. “Lincoln University's mission statement says it ‘educates and empowers students to lead their communities and change the world.’ I'm living proof that the University does what it says.”
The new Delaware County Community College/Lincoln University dual admission and core-to-core agreement may be especially helpful to Delaware County Community College students who attend classes at the College’s Pennocks Bridge Campus in West Grove, just five miles from Lincoln University.
In order to participate in the new agreement, eligible students must first receive an associate degree in either Arts or Science at Delaware County Community College and meet all Lincoln University degree, major and grade point average requirements. Students also must complete an intent to enroll form with the help of a transfer advisor, prior to earning 30 credits at the College. Several majors are excluded from this agreement, including nursing. Students should review the agreement on the website of Delaware County Community College or Lincoln University and talk to a transfer advisor for additional information (www.dccc.edu/lincoln-university-dual-admissions).
(Photo Caption top row, from left: Delaware County Community College’s Chief of Staff Harry Costigan and President Dr. L. Joy Gates Black and Lincoln University President Dr. Brenda A. Allen. Bottom row, from left: 2018 Lincoln University graduate Rumeel Jessamy, who transferred 60 credits from the College to the University, Delaware County Community College Vice President of Academic Affairs Marian McGorry and Lincoln University Dean of Faculty Dr. Patricia A. Joseph.)
