South Carolina Higher Education Leaders Meet to Improve Credit Transfer

South Carolina higher education leaders gathered in Columbia to hold the Transfer Excellence Convening. The event focused on improving how academic credits transfer between institutions to help students stay on track to graduate. During the meeting, Ashley Reich of the U.S. Department of Education discussed federal student loan programs and noted that forty percent of master’s degree programs have a negative return on investment.

The discussion addresses the rising national student loan debt, which has surpassed $1.7 trillion. Leaders emphasized that while students may save money by starting at technical or community colleges, those savings could disappear if credits fail to transfer to four-year universities.