Nicholls State University and Delgado Community College signed a transfer agreement on Aug. 25, which will ease transfer or cross enrollment for students.

Cross enrollment at Nicholls is when a student takes no more than six credits at an institution that Nicholls has an agreement with. It can also be a student at a community college that has an agreement with Nicholls who plans to enroll for no more than six hours. Most transfer students are encouraged to have either a transferable associate degree or have 18 non developmental hours with at least a 2.0 GPA.

On March 23, 2014, a similar transfer agreement was signed with Delgado for the culinary program. This agreement also created scholarships, which allow Delgado students with associate degrees to continue pursuing a bachelor’s degree through the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute. The program was meant to apply to students who completed Delgado’s Culinary Art Associates Program. There are still a few terms being worked out in this agreement.

Chef John Kozar, Department Head and assistant professor of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, stated, “We are very hopeful of being able to execute an articulation during this academic year.”

Kozar explained, “I have been working with Vance Roux, Culinary Arts Program Director at Delgado. We are still in the process of ironing out the agreement, mostly due to the fact that Delgado offers an assortment of culinary arts associate degrees, and the content of each varies considerably.”

The most recent transfer agreement will allow business students who attend Delgado to obtain their Bachelor’s in Business Administration at Nicholls. Delgado students will be able to take classes on campus or pursue their degree through Nicholls Online.

Delgado is a community college in New Orleans that was founded in 1921. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is Louisiana’s oldest and largest community college. In the fall of 2013, 18,684 students were enrolled at Delgado’s eight different campuses. Delgado currently offers an Associate of Science (A.S.) in Business Administration. According to the Delgado’s Business Administration home page, this two year program is designed to “prepare students to enroll in a four-year institution immediately upon graduation. This degree is designed to provide the foundation students need to succeed in majors such as: Accounting, Business Administration, Management or Marketing at the baccalaureate level.”

According to Shaw Mauldin, Dean of the College of Business Administration, Delgado has about 800 business students enrolled in their Associate of Science program. Students coming from Delgado would result in “more tuition dollars” for Nicholls. Nicholls has had an enrollment decline from 6,298 students a few years ago to 5,695 students currently enrolled.

The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree at Nicholls requires 120 hours of class credits toward the degree. Delgado Students will be allowed up to 57 hours of credit to be applied toward their bachelor’s degree.

Mauldin said, Students can also apply the hours towards our new online degree in Business Administration. I think Delgado students will be very pleased with what we have to offer at Nicholls.”