Six Maryland community colleges across the state have announced the formation of the Maryland Education Alliance (MEA).
Currently, the MEA is composed of the College of Southern Maryland, Anne Arundel Community College, Cecil College, Chesapeake College, Harford Community College, and Prince George’s Community College.
The goal of the Alliance is to create an easy pathway for students to transfer from one community college to another in order to boost enrollment in certain programs. This will create great cost savings for both the students and community colleges. Students would finish their preliminary coursework at the community college in their home county and then could transfer to another institution for more specialized coursework.
From the College of Southern Maryland’s press release:
The six community colleges hammered out the details throughout 2020 despite the pandemic – and expanded the alliance to include other disciplines, such as healthcare and business, so far.
The participating community colleges will serve as the governing body to meet annually to discuss issues, maintain smooth transitions and open communication. As the MEA expands academic program opportunities, other Maryland community colleges can join to benefit their students as individual institutions can choose which programs to offer.
With the creation of an umbrella agreement, providing the collaboration parameters, each academic program shared under the MEA will be considered a specific articulation agreement between the institutions.
This agreement provides students another flexible option to pursue their academic interests, among the many existing in Maryland. The program is student-centered, focusing on expanding educational opportunities to Maryland’s residents through sharing resources.
