Written by Taylor Humby. Originally posted November 4th, 2019.
Bronco Connect, a program intended to help students transfer to Boise State, has just been extended to students in the College of Southern Idaho (CSI). Bronco Connect is a program set up, originally exclusively for College of Western Idaho (CWI) students, to transfer easily to Boise State upon completion of their associate’s degrees. Students from CSI will now also be able to take advantage of the benefits provided under the program.
Under the program, students are guaranteed admission to Boise State, and have help working with course catalogues to lock in classes and make sure they are not negatively affected by catalogue changes over time. They are also invited to football and basketball events, to get them involved on campus before officially being enrolled.
Shae Hanson, transfer enrollment counselor for Bronco Connect students, said the project was first developed in 2015 with CWI. A need for helping students transfer more seamlessly was identified, which prompted the creation of this program. From the success of the CWI involvement, Boise State decided to continue to expand this Bronco Connect’s reach.
“CWI is obviously a lot closer so it’s easier to meet with them and coordinate with them so I think that’s why that one happened first,” Hanson said. “Now that we kind of got Bronco Connect set, we know what it is, we know what we are doing, so we took the step to develop it with CSI too.”
On Oct. 3, the first Bronco Connect CSI kick off event occured in Twin Falls. At the event, students were able to talk to Hanson at a Boise State table in the Union Building, as well as get free pizza and participate in a photo wall. This resulted in 40 students signing up.
Hanson also stated that students outside of Bronco Connect’s reach should not be discouraged from transferring, as she is there to help all transfer students.
“On our website we have a really cool transfer equivalency database, where you can go and look up your school and see how classes from that school will transfer to Boise State,” Hanson said. “Once a transfer student is admitted to Boise State they get their official transfer credit evaluation just a couple weeks after they’re admitted. It’s usually pretty quick and they will know how everything has transferred and they can make their decision.”
Joetta Julugbeh, a Bronco Connect transfer student from CWI, said the program was an easy process.
“When signing up I got the day and time I wanted, and I did not pay out of pocket,” Julugbeh said. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to have joined Bronco Connect. I would have transferred to Boise State without it, but not with such a smooth process, and not like the way I was treated with Bronco Connect. I felt important.”
Carolina Zamudia, a current student at CSI, is planning to transfer to Boise State for fall 2019, echoed her experiences with Bronco Connect.
“It was really easy. All I had to do was communicate with my transfer counselor,” Zamudia said. “I am really busy since I am student body president at CSI, so she was always willing to work around my schedule.”
According to Zamudia, without the Bronco Connect she doesn’t think she would have transferred to Boise State. Zamudia said that Bronco Connect made the transfer process easier, and she wasn’t originally aware of how much help there is for students in her position.
“I think some of the reasons that people don’t even go on to transfer is because they think the process is hard, and they are overwhelmed and they don’t know how to do it by themselves,” Zamudia said.” I think Bronco Connect really helps alleviate some of that stress. It’s like a safety blanket.”
Read the article on Arbiter Online.