Board of Regents President, Dr. Gregory Gray spent the month of November taking the new Transform 20-20 initiatives on the road. With a goal to solicit feedback from students and then present it to the Board of Regents (BOR) in 2015, Dr. Gray worked his plan to meet with community college students by organizing contacts through their Student Government Association officers.  The meetings with students from the 17 CT State Universities and Community Colleges were intended to inform, rally support and produce 1,000 students to legislative budget hearings next Spring to advocate for funding. “Your voice will allow us to take the next huge step from being a good college and university system to becoming a great state higher education system,” said Dr. Gray.

Student participation from NVCC was enthusiastic; more than 30 students from NVCC attended the meeting which was held in L501 on November 14, 2014. The questions raised and comments made focused mainly on cross-campus registration, academic advising, credit transfer, tuition and fees, legislative support for transform initiatives and strengthening the liberal arts core.

Several NVCC students commented favorably on the meetings and how the topics related to their concerns.

NVCC second-year student Kristin Harris said, “I think it is great that Dr. Gray is working hard to make sure our credits will transfer to a Connecticut State University. This will lessen the hassle for us when we want to continue our education.”

According to Belman Soto, a first-year NVCC student, “Finance is an issue and I want to be sure my educational investment will continue at a four-year university.”

Second-year NVCC student Iralis De Jesus will be graduating this May and said, “Transferability is key. I am applying at out-of-state schools and I’m finding out that some of my credits won’t transfer, so it is important to me to look toward the Connecticut State University system.”

Students were pleased to know that the top priority from Dr. Gray, to smooth out the transfer credit process to any CT state university, was consistent with their focus on transfer credits.