Graduates of the Honors Program at Ozarks Technical Community College who transfer to the University of Missouri-Kansas City will automatically be eligible for scholarships and admission to the UMKC Honors College thanks to an articulation agreement signed today, April 21, between the two colleges.
“Many outstanding students are thinking about OTC first before pursuing a bachelor’s degree, and our Honors Program provides them a challenging curriculum in an atmosphere of scholarship,” said Todd Yerby, director of the OTC Honors Program. “UMKC is embracing our students by offering them financial and academic incentives to transfer.”
Honors students from OTC will be automatically considered for UMKC merit scholarships including the Chancellor’s Transfer Award worth $2,000 each academic year. OTC Honors students with a 3.7 grade point average or better will be automatically admitted into UMKC’s Honors College. Those with a GPA below 3.7 are still admissible to the UMKC Honors College if a letter accompanies their application from the OTC Honors program director stating that the student is in good standing with the OTC Honors program.
“The UMKC Honors College is a liberal arts college within a larger research university,” said James McKusick, dean of the UMKC Honors College. “We eagerly await the arrival of OTC alumni. They will enter a close-knit community of highly motivated students working together as they prepare for a lifetime of leadership.”
The OTC Honors Program has around 50 students enrolled each academic year and it is open to current college students or incoming freshmen. Besides academic standards, students must complete an essay and provide three academic references.
This is the second articulation agreement that OTC’s Honors Program has signed with a Missouri four-year university that provides scholarship opportunities for transfers. In the fall of 2015, OTC signed an agreement with Missouri Southern State University in Joplin that provided scholarship opportunities for OTC transfer students.