What a 2+2 is
A 2+2 (or transfer articulation) agreement maps a specific associate degree at a specific college onto a specific Porter bachelor's program, course by course, so a student who completes the associate degree as advised enters Porter with roughly junior standing and a clear two-year path to the bachelor's. Porter maintains dozens of these with the state technical and community colleges.
Follow the plan while you are still there
The savings only work if you take the right courses at the two-year school. Get the articulation plan for your intended Porter major early, meet a Porter transfer adviser before your last term, and choose electives that transfer as something rather than as generic credit. One wrong course choice can cost a semester later.
General education as a block
A completed transfer-oriented associate degree often satisfies most or all of Porter's general education, transferring as a block rather than course by course. Career-technical associate degrees transfer more variably — ask specifically how yours is treated.
After you transfer
Send official transcripts from every institution. The credit evaluation posts to your degree audit; run it immediately and appeal any course placed as generic elective that should match a specific Porter course, with a syllabus. Do this before you register for your first term so it shapes your schedule.
Reverse transfer
If you transfer before finishing the associate degree, a reverse-transfer agreement can send your Porter credits back to the two-year college to complete it — so you earn the associate degree along the way to the bachelor's. Ask both registrars to set it up.
The residency rule still applies
Porter requires a minimum share of your final credits — and often a minimum in the major — earned at Porter, regardless of how much transfers in. A well-built 2+2 already accounts for this; a patchwork transfer might not. Check with your adviser.
Support for transfer students
Transfer orientation, transfer-friendly course planning, a transfer student meetup series, and transfer scholarships exist because arriving with two years done is a distinct experience. Start with an adviser who works with transfers regularly.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.