Image

What happens when your dream school is too expensive? For some people, they may take out loans, apply endlessly for scholarships, or spend out-of-pocket. Lily Rosenberg, for whom a traditional four-year college would have been too expensive from the outset, decided to turn to the MassTransfer program at her local community college in Cape Cod.

In Massachusetts, community college students can take advantage of the MassTransfer program to save money, knock out gen-eds, and transfer into a four-year college in their field of study, all while saving thousands of dollars and receiving an education that is just as good as the four-year institution. For Lily, an aspiring art student and resident of the Cape Cod town of Sandwich, the decision was a no-brainer: why spend more when you can save so much?

“I started looking into MassTransfer because we were still financially limited,” said Lily. “So, MassTransfer seemed like the best option to a bachelor’s degree without breaking the bank.”

Lily entered her local community college as a general studies major, taking as many courses as she could in art, keeping her grades up so she could benefit from MassTransfer’s guaranteed admissions program, which offers students with requisite coursework and a 2.5+ GPA guaranteed admission into state colleges and universities, including UMass Amherst. Upon receiving her associate’s degree and touring colleges, she ended up finding that UMass was the perfect school. Seeing the sprawling buildings and proximity to vibrant towns such as Northampton and Amherst, Lily knew that the local arts scene would perfectly accompany her painting major.

Image

While the process of transferring naturally felt daunting, Lily immediately had her fears put to ease. Through guaranteed credit agreements and making sure to monitor her progress at her community college, she was able to transfer all her credits to UMass and stay on track for graduation. In addition, despite making the leap from her small, local school to the giant campus of UMass, she found that not only did her community college prepare her well, it was also easy to adjust and feel at home.

“When you're entering UMass, even as a transfer student, there's so many other people who are learning the same things as you that you're going to pick things up quickly,” said Lily. “It was an adjustment, but I feel so much more independent now that I'm not 20 minutes away from my house, and I'm walking on campus by myself … I feel more like an adult and I feel more comfortable in my newfound independence.”

Since entering UMass, Lily has made numerous friends in the art department and has enjoyed classes from great professors, wonderful club and art opportunities, great dining, and fantastic resources from her department. In the end, Lily is glad she took this route and saved as much money as she could, and has no regrets for her decision. For anyone who may not be able to afford UMass from the beginning, Lily said, she cannot recommend the MassTransfer program enough.

Her advice and final thoughts for other students entering UMass through MassTransfer?

“Be careful about tracking your process through MassTransfer, be in contact with your advisor … be prepared to make adjustments as needed, and although it might not be the exact path that you saw yourself on, sometimes there are surprises that give you the experiences that you need and that you didn't think you wanted but you ended up actually appreciating more than you thought,” said Lily.