Kristen Labadie | University Communication and Marketing
Kristen Labadie | University Communication and Marketing
Southeast Community College students pause for a photo in the Cather Dining Center during an Oct. 28 celebration of the new transfer program.
A new partnership is giving Southeast Community College students a clearer path to a bachelor’s degree at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
The On Course partnership guarantees admission to Nebraska for SCC students who earn an associate degree with a minimum 2.0 grade-point average. Announced Oct. 30 at SCC’s Lincoln Campus, the agreement includes more than 50 transfer pathways that map coursework between the two institutions, helping students understand how their credits will apply toward a bachelor’s degree before transferring.
The partnership expands Nebraska’s transfer pathways while addressing a gap between students’ educational goals and their enrollment at the university. About 2,500 current SCC students report that transferring to a four-year institution is a goal. Over the past three years, 475 SCC students enrolled at Nebraska.
“Students who arrive from Southeast Community College do well once they get here,” Interim Chancellor Katherine S. Ankerson said. “The preparation holds up. What this partnership does is take something that has been true for individual students and make it available to all of them.”
Southeast Community College
The pathways are designed to help students avoid repeating coursework or losing credits as they move between institutions. They also give students a clearer plan for completing an associate degree before transferring, allowing them to earn a credential along the way to a bachelor’s degree.
Faculty and staff from both institutions developed the pathways by aligning degree requirements and coursework. In July 2025, nearly 100 faculty members, staff and administrators met to begin the work. All nine Nebraska colleges participated in mapping their degree requirements against SCC coursework.
Each pathway identifies the destination degree, required courses and expected time to completion. Students also can see when a pathway requires more than two additional years at Nebraska.
The pathways span agriculture and natural resources, business, engineering and computing, health and human sciences, education, journalism and media, arts and sciences, and criminal justice. They include technical and applied degrees as well as academic transfer programs.
Advisers at both institutions will help students navigate the process, building on Nebraska advisers’ existing presence at SCC campuses. The institutions will review and update the pathways annually and make them available to the public.
The agreement also connects transfer students with bachelor’s degree programs in fields important to Nebraska’s workforce, including nursing and health sciences, agriculture and animal science, civil and mechanical engineering, elementary and secondary education, and computer science.
High school students can begin working toward these degrees through SCC’s dual credit opportunities, completing foundational coursework before graduation that applies toward an On Course pathway. Those credits can help students make progress toward a degree while reducing the time and cost of college.
SCC also announced the Presidential Scholarship, which will cover full tuition and fees for high-achieving students pursuing an On Course pathway. Recipients will participate in leadership development and transfer preparation designed for their cohort. The inaugural class is scheduled to begin in spring 2027.
“A guarantee opens a door, but it doesn’t cover the cost of the first two years,” said Paul Illich, SCC president. “The Presidential Scholarship does. Our strongest students should not have to choose between the education they want and the cost of getting it.”
Students can find pathway documents, course sequences, GPA requirements and advising contacts online. Current SCC students can declare an On Course pathway with a transfer adviser. High school counselors will receive printed pathway materials this fall.
