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Following Cazenovia College’s December announcement that it will close its doors after the spring 2023 semester, at least 11 institutions of higher education in the Central New York area have committed to participate in the college’s “Teach Out” partnerships, which will relocate its current students to nearby colleges and universities.

Cazenovia, located about 20 miles southeast of SU, announced its permanent closure just months away from its 200th anniversary, attributing the decision to financial concerns exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several nearby institutions have released plans to ensure easy transitions for students, and are working with Cazenovia on the transfer process.

Cazenovia publicly announced “Teach Out” partnerships with the following institutions from the central New York area: Daemen University, Elmira College, Excelsior University, Hilbert College, Keuka College, LeMoyne College, Mercy College, SUNY College at Oneonta, SUNY Morrisville, Utica University and Wells College. As of Tuesday, Syracuse University is not among the partnered institutions.

SU did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether it intends to participate with Cazenovia and other CNY colleges and universities in establishing a partnered transfer process.

SUNY Morrisville, located about ten miles away from Cazenovia, said on its website that it will work “to assist our longtime neighbors.” Lisa Godfrey, an admissions representative from the university, said transfer students from Cazenovia will be able to apply to SUNY Morrisville with a waived application fee. According to its website, SUNY Morrisville will accept credits for all courses that students took at Cazenovia.

“We’re being generous with our credits, especially in programs like Equine, since Equine is one of those unique degrees that not a lot of students have,” she said. “Since they’re right next door, we’re being generous with the transfer credits.”

Cazenovia’s Equine Education Center and Equine Business Management program are among fewer than 20 in the northeast that offer equine-related degrees.

Godfrey explained that once accepted, Cazenovia transfer students will go through a credit evaluation process to review which of their credits are transferable.

“They will have a transfer agreement when the student applies and when they get accepted and they will do a credit evaluation, but with the credit evaluation we’re being a little bit more lenient in what credits we’re going to take,” Godfrey said.

Jacques Megnizin | Design Editor

Dr. Jeffery Gates, senior vice president for student life and enrollment management at Utica University, said the university has established procedures to ensure transfer students from Cazenovia can easily transition. Gates said that like SUNY Morrisville, Utica is easing requirements for the credit transfer process so that students can graduate at the same time they would have from Cazenovia.

“For Caz(enovia) students right now, it’s not their choice to transfer, they have to finish their degree or their educational goals, and so we are being as liberal as we can with those transfer requirements,” Gates said.

Gates also said Cazenovia students will have reduced application requirements like waived recommendation letter requirements and application fees. Those obstacles would increase burden on the college’s faculty and staff during its closing, Gates said.

Utica established scholarships for Cazenovia transfer students to guarantee that students will pay the exact same cost of attendance at Utica as they would have at Cazenovia, even if their cost of attendance at Utica would have been more expensive, Gates said.

SUNY Morrisville stated on its website that it will provide similar financial aid packages to what transfer students had received at Cazenovia.

Gates said he wants Cazenovia transfer students to incorporate what they learned from their time at Cazenovia into their new colleges to preserve the college’s legacy.

“For those students who have spent, whether it’s one year, two years or three years at Cazenovia, we want them to be able to bring some of that experience with them, as well as assimilating into our own traditions and experiences here at Utica,” Gates said.

Published on January 18, 2023 at 1:11 am

Contact Stephanie: spwright@syr.edu