Leaving community college to come to the University will soon be easier with a new state-wide transfer system.According to the plan for articulation, the process of transferring from community college to a four-year university, 60 credits would transfer from a community college to a Louisiana four-year public university in a block instead of course by course.Of the 60 credits, 39 would be general education requirements and 21 would be more specific to the major a student chooses.”A block normally takes two years to complete,” said Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope.Senate Education Chairman Ben Nevers crafted the articulation process during the 2009 legislative session, and it will be implemented in fall 2010.”It is intended to create a more seamless situation for students who started at community college,” said LSU System Vice President of Student and Academic Support Mike Gargano.A more structured articulation plan could save students time and money. “We hope students will graduate in a quicker time frame — four to five years rather than six, which would offer significant cost savings,” Gargano said.Students would denote their intent to pursue a bachelor’s degree when they enroll at a community college and would have to complete all classes with a minimum of a C during their time at a two-year college.”Hopefully a student would only need 60 more hours to graduate or possibly a few more for majors like architecture or engineering,” Gargano said.A caveat to the plan is that a student is guaranteed admission to a university but not necessarily the college for a specific major, Gargano said.In the future, officials plan to create a common course numbering system in catalogs across the state along with a common transcript.”We are trying to find an easy way to do it that creates the least confusion,” Gargano said.The Board of Regents plan to make Web sites and other tools available with information about the program for incoming students as the program advances.–Contact Grace Montgomery at [email protected] programs are set up across the nation, and Massachusetts, Florida and North Carolina already have highly developed programs, Gargano said. California has a strong community college program but only recently began the articulation agreement.