Lone Star College Signed Transfer Guarantees With Five Universities. They Reach Down to Dual Credit in High School.

Lone Star College signed its Guaranteed Transfer Partnership Agreement on October 28 with Prairie View A&M University, Sam Houston State University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University and the University of Houston-Downtown. The agreement creates 50 guaranteed transfer pathways to degrees at those five schools.

The promise has two parts. Students know from the start which credits transfer toward their degree, for up to six years. And a student who stays continuously enrolled does not lose ground if course requirements change during that time.

Why it reaches Magnolia

Lone Star is the college here in the most literal way. An address inside Magnolia ISD is in the college's taxing district, the Magnolia Center at 1280 Escondido Drive opened in January, and Magnolia ISD high school students who take college courses on their own campus take them from Lone Star.

That last group is the new part. According to the college, dual credit courses on these pathways count toward a high school diploma and a Lone Star degree, and can also apply toward a bachelor's degree at one of the five universities.

Things to check

• Whether the degree a student wants is one of the 50 pathways. The agreement covers those, not every major at the five schools.
• The limit of up to six years, and how it applies to a student's own start date.
• The word "continuously" in continuously enrolled. Community Impact's report does not spell out what a break in enrollment does to the protection, so that is a question for an adviser's office. The Magnolia Center's number is 346-654-7100.

At the signing, University of Houston-Downtown interim president Deborah Bordelon addressed the question a skeptic would ask first. "We are not watering down standards; rather, we are holding each other to higher standards," she said.