Middlesex County Community College Signs Agreement With Kean University

Students in Middlesex County now have a seamless path to a bachelor’s degree at Kean University. Middlesex County College and Kean recently signed a Joint Admissions Program agreement whereby Middlesex County College students are admitted to one of Kean's undergraduate programs from the start.

Students admitted through the program will take only courses that will transfer toward their bachelor's degree at Kean, saving them valuable time and money. Last Tuesday, Sept. 26, Kean University President Dawood Farahi, Ph.D., and Middlesex County College President Joann La Perla-Morales, Ed.D., signed a Joint Admissions Agreement providing Middlesex County College (MCC) students provisional admission to Kean. Upon successful completion of their associate degree at MCC, students may gain full admission to one of a growing list of approved degree programs at Kean University.

“This new Joint Admissions Program provides students with a seamless route to earn a bachelor’s degree from Kean University––without wasting time or money taking credits that don’t transfer,” said Farahi. “This initiative also serves to extend the reach of Kean’s world-class programs, faculty, facilities and services to students who begin their studies at the community college.”

For the last five years, more than 200 Middlesex County College students have transferred to Kean each year, accounting for more than 15 percent of Kean’s transfer admissions population. Now, MCC students who enroll under the Joint Admissions Program will start experiencing a Kean University education from the start of freshman year, getting access to Kean’s faculty and advisors, as well as invitations to special campus programs and events.

The agreement provides clear and easy-to-follow advisement and transfer of credits, allowing students to enter Kean University as a junior in the following undergraduate degree programs:

• B.A. Biology
• B.A. Psychology
• B.S. Accounting
• B.S. Management - General Business
• B.S. Management - Supply Chain
• B.S. Management - Entrepreneurship

“Middlesex County College is already one of the biggest senders of students to Kean because we know that Kean takes great care of our students,” said La Perla-Morales. “Now, students can come to Middlesex County College knowing exactly what classes they need to be able to go on and succeed at Kean––because their path is spelled out for them. We are very pleased to continue our work with Kean.”

Kean Ocean is a unique partnership in which students in one of more than 30 undergraduate academic programs receive their associate degree from Ocean County College, and then transfer to Kean without having to leave the Toms River campus. The University also has joint admissions programs with Essex County College, Union County College and Union County Vocational Technical School. Kean has articulation agreements with Bergen Community College for the transfer of associate degree credits toward a four-year degree at Kean, and with College of Saint Elizabeth for the transfer of credits from their Graduate Certificate in Holocaust and Genocide Education to Kean’s Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies program.

In addition to the first six programs approved for joint admission in the Kean University-Middlesex County College Joint Admissions Program, similar opportunities will be made available in chemistry, early childhood education, elementary education, history and computer science. At the signing ceremony, members of the two schools’ admissions and enrollment teams identified additional programs, in sociology, political science and criminal justice, that will be evaluated for future inclusion in the joint-admissions agreement.

Pictured (seated, left to right): Mark McCormick, MCC vice president for academic and student affairs; MCC President Joann La Perla-Morales; Kean President Dawood Farahi; and Stephen Kubow, acting associate vice president of Kean Ocean. Pictured (standing, left to right): Jeffrey Herron, MCC dean of professional studies; Linda Scherr, MCC dean of arts and sciences; Patrick Madama, MCC vice president for institutional advancement; George Chang, dean of Kean’s College of Natural, Applied and Health Sciences; and Marsha McCarthy, associate vice president for enrollment management at Kean.