WKU is in the process of partnering with Jefferson Community and Technical College to provide its students joint admission to WKU.

WKU is currently partnered with 10 community colleges offering joint admission to their students: Bluegrass, Elizabethtown, Henderson, Hopkinsville, Ivy Tech Community College–Southwest, Madisonville, Owensboro, Somerset, Southcentral Kentucky and Volunteer State.

To have joint admission into WKU, students must be admitted to one of the 10 community colleges partnered with WKU. Students then go through a process of completing a WKU admissions application, sending transcripts and meeting with a WKU advisor.

“We’ve always had a strong partnership with the KCTCS [Kentucky Community and Technical College System] schools,” associate director for the Academic Advising and Retention Center Christopher Jensen said.

Seventy-nine percent of all transfer students in 2015 came from KCTCS colleges, according to WKU’s 2015 Regional Campus Enrollment Report.

Out of the five top transfer institutions, four of them are KCTCS schools: Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, Owensboro Community and Technical College, Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College and Madisonville Community College, according to the report.

For some students, the transfer process hasn’t been easy.

“It was extremely hard. I wasn’t very connected to the college,” Mackenzie Lee Farris said about her experience transferring from Elizabethtown to WKU in fall 2014.

Russell Springs senior Chandra Stephens transferred from Somerset Community College in the fall 2014 semester.

“I had a little trouble getting my classes transferred,” Stephens said.

The goal of offering students at community colleges joint admission is to make the transfer as seamless as possible for them.

“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible so students won’t feel alone going through the process,” Jensen said.

“Western made it really easy,” Cadiz junior Alyssa Stallons said. Stallons transferred to WKU from Hopkinsville Community College in the fall 2015 semester and said a WKU representative helped her through the process at Hopkinsville.

Some benefits of joint admission are on-site academic advising, a four-year degree plan, affordable tuition and transfer scholarships.

WKU is still in negotiations with the board at Jefferson Community and Technical College to determine what will be offered and what will benefit both colleges.

“We want students to start school at Jefferson Community [and Technical] College then transition seamlessly to WKU,” Jefferson spokeswoman Lisa Brosky said.

Brosky explained that developing these kinds of agreements between community colleges and universities benefits both students and colleges.

“We hope that students will see the opportunity there,” Brosky said.

Jensen said they are hoping to have the partnership with Jefferson Community and Technical College completed in the next year and a half.

Ed. note: This article’s headline has been updated online to reflect the full name of JCTC.