Web-based programs guide students through college
Products help students track financial aid and design a path to four-year colleges
By Matthew Dembicki, Published May 25, 2007

Dozens of vendors offering Web-based products that can do virtually anything from alerting students and college staff members when financial aid applications are due, to gauging whether a certain four-year college will accept a student’s transfer credits, are vy­ing for the attention of community colleges.

Now, Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the interna­tional honor society of the two-year college, is offering its own program. The organization may have an advantage over others in the field as its new Web-based platform will focus on community colleges and will be available free to colleges and students.

PTK is testing its new password-protected program—CollegeFish.org—which will help students plan for transfer to four-year institutions and careers.

“Community college students, many of them first generation college students, generally do not know the how, what, where and when with regard to planning for transfer and completion of a baccalaure­ate degree,” said PTK Executive Director Rod Risley. “These students wait too late to begin the planning process and are often locked out of admissions, scholarships, financial aid and housing opportunities at senior institutions.”

About 400 PTK student members are currently piloting the transfer component of the program, dubbed “Transfer Fish.” The next part—“Career Fish”—will ad­dress career planning. PTK expects to roll out the entire product this fall, but individual PTK members can currently sign up to test the program.

The Web site will contain articles to help students understand terminology associated with planning for transfer, the sequence of tasks required for transfer, a personal automatic calendar noting deadlines and profiles of more than 2,000 four-year col­leges and universities.

It will also help manage scholarship searches for students and help commu­nity college advisors research opportuni­ties for their students, as well as monitor their progress in the transfer process.

“One of our major goals is to intro­duce students to senior colleges who are not only interested in recruiting them, but who are also eager to ensure their transfer success,” Risley said.

PTK had already operated Transfer Connection, a database providing di­rectory information on PTK members to senior college admissions officers to facilitate recruitment. The basic service provided through Transfer Connection will be incorporated into Transfer Fish.

Through Transfer Fish, students will provide more detailed information about themselves, which helps identify which four-year colleges and universities better fit their needs and interests for transfer success. Four-year institutions could then provide early advice on course transfer and articulation agreements.

Most Web-based programs that offer similar services tend to focus on high schools, providing students and staff with information on how to prepare students for college, said Heather Johnson, PTK’s director of scholarship programs. College Fish will focus only on the specific needs of community college students, she said.

There are a few Web-based platforms that have a community college compo­nent. ConnectEdu, for instance, provides services similar to College Fish, such as a calendar with deadlines for college and financial aid applications and gauging whether a selected four-year college will accept certain transfer credits.

The company has over the past two years contracted with high school districts as well as individual colleges and state higher education systems in Missouri, Michigan, Virginia and eight other states, with another six to nine expected to join this summer, ac­cording to Craig Powell, the company’s president.

ConnectEdu markets its program as a product that saves time, money and potential errors by eliminating data entry at the college. It also says that the paper­less program provides better security of students’ records and decreases the time it takes to process applications.

The company’s online services are free to students, but participating colleges pay a fee.

In January, ConnectEdu partnered with the Council of North Central Two-Year Colleges—which represents some 350 community colleges in 19 states—to use its program to improve the college admissions and colleges transfer process.

And just last week the company hired Norman Myers as its director of com­munity college relations. Before joining ConnectEdu, Myers was the founding president of Ozarks Technical Commu­nity College (Missouri), which was the first two-year college to participate in the ConnectEdu program.