A partnership between Illinois Central College and Bradley University will benefit aid transfer students through the transition process.
The agreement was officially signed Wednesday, April 3 by Bradley University provost and senior vice president of academic affairs Walter Zakahi and Emmanuel Awuah, the ICC vice president of academic affairs.
“Bradley averages somewhere around 100 transfer students from ICC per year, and I hope that this stronger bridge is going to result in even more students transferring,” Zakahi said.
The agreement outlines guaranteed admission, which ensures ICC students admission to Bradley if they have a 2.5 GPA or higher. It also includes scholarship opportunities, like a $12,000 scholarship for having at least a 3.25 GPA.
Provost Zakahi said he believes this granted admission will not impact Bradley’s on-going reaccreditation process in 2020.
“I don’t think it’s related to the accreditation process in any direct way. It’s not a plus or a minus for us to have these kinds of relationships,” Zakahi said. “For us, ultimately, the value here is being a member of the community in Central Illinois.”
Jesus Bravo, a Bradley University civil engineering student who transferred from ICC in the fall of 2018, received that particular academic scholarship.
“I think one of the reasons I came to ICC was because of money,” Bravo said. “I come from a low-income family, and it was not possible for me to transfer from high school directly to [the] university.”
Another component of this agreement includes using Reverse-Transfer, which is a national automated platform for exchanging student data. It allows Bradley to securely send course and grade information to any two-year institution from which a student has transferred.
Vice president for enrollment management Justin Ball said that in addition to this, the university plans to work with ICC even before a student is ready to transfer.
“We talk to young men and women leaving Richwoods or Peoria High saying ‘I’m going to ICC and my goal is to come and to study communications or education or engineering,’ we can say to them ‘Here’s what this four year path looks like,’” Ball said. “We’re helping students and advisers with what classes will get them to Bradley.”
Ball also said efforts beyond logistical and academic discussed in the agreement that will make the transition for students easier, like getting them “emotionally prepared” by considering out-of-classroom influences.
“We’re asking ‘How do we take the clubs and organizations they were a part of in highschool?,’” Ball said. “Also, ‘How do we take that out-of the classroom experiences they’re having at ICC and transition them over for what they’re going to do at Bradley … like other clubs and sports and fun things that make student life student life?’”
Awuah emphasized that the two institutions have a long history of working together.
“ICC and Bradley have always had agreements,” Awuah said. “This partnership is not new. What is new is the fact that we have put together everything on one page, a comprehensive agreement.”
