Banners, tables and students filled the dining hall at Central Oregon Community College as representatives from four-year colleges met with students Tuesday to discuss the process of transferring to earn bachelor’s degrees.

Diane Pritchard, the college’s director of careers, academic counseling and personal counseling, said she liked what she saw. Since the event was set up in the dining hall, it was intended to be easy to access for students as they dropped in for late breakfast or lunch.

“It helps to reduce barriers for students,” said Pritchard. “It gives them an introduction of what’s out there as far as transferring.”

Of the nearly 3,000 students who earned an associate’s degree at COCC over the past seven years, nearly 80% of them enrolled at another college after they had finished at COCC, according to college data. The top school attended was Oregon State University, followed by other schools in Oregon and Utah.

Around half of the students who enrolled at another college earned another degree after COCC, and 31% of those students are still enrolled and may still be working on their second degrees.

“We’re getting student participation, as well as faculty are stopping by to see what options and opportunities are available to students,” said Pritchard.

Colleges in Oregon, Utah, Washington and Idaho sent recruiters to COCC. The event has been running for more than 20 years, said Pritchard. A few schools had to drop out due to weather, and 18 schools sent representatives.

“They get to meet with the different schools to talk about what their process is to transfer, ‘cause each one might have something unique that they’re looking for and it helps them to think ahead and have that opportunity to see what’s out there and available to them,” said Pritchard.

Portland State University has a well-known school of social work, and Mollie Janssen, online coordinator for the program, attended the event to speak with prospective students. Portland State has nearly 22,000 students, and around 50% are transfer students.

“We’re talking to some students who we’ve already been in communication with, and we’re taking to some students who aren’t familiar with Portland State, so we’re able to share with them a little bit about who we are and what the process of transferring looks like,” said Josephine Sorensen, senior admissions counselor.

Sydney Rohrssen, 29, a COCC student, just declared a major in early childhood education. She was excited to learn more from schools at the event. Her adviser encouraged her to attend, she said.

“I’m doing a transfer degree, so definitely talking to a couple different schools here,” she said. “Definitely excited to hear more about this Portland State University. It was definitely not even on my radar.”

Blake Presnell, assistant director of admissions for the University of Idaho, said the event was going well, if a little quiet in the morning.

“Most of the students kind of already have an idea of what they want to transfer (for), so they’re just looking into what schools are in the area, schools have their program, just looking ahead,” he said.

Lauren Berkey, a freshman at COCC, didn’t realize the event was happening beforehand, but figured it would be a good idea to ask questions. She is studying outdoor leadership.

“I’m planning to transferring to SOU (Southern Oregon University) as it is, and I saw the booth and I was like ‘I may as well ask what information they have to offer,’” she said.

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