UAlbany, HVCC Sign Historic Dual Admission Agreement

Three men in suits sign oversized pieces of paper at a table with a gree Hudson Valley Community College tablecloth on one side and a purple University at Albany tablecloth on the other. HVCC, SUNY and UAlbany banners are behind them.
From left, HVCC President Roger Ramsammy, SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. and UAlbany President Havidán Rodríguez sign ceremonial copies of the dual-admission agreement. (Photos by Vincent Giordano/HVCC)

By Margaret Hartley 

TROY, N.Y. (March 12, 2024) — On a rainy morning last week, a purple UAlbany bus pulled up to the clock tower at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, and about 40 people and one large dog disembarked.

The reason for the field trip? President Havidán Rodríguez was about to sign a dual-admissions agreement with his counterpart at HVCC, President Roger Ramsammy, designed to create a seamless path for graduating HVCC students to continue their education at UAlbany.

College mascots of a viking in a green helmet and a great dane in a blue shirt stand next to a smiling man in a suit in front of a bus painted with the word UAlbany.
President Havidán Rodríguez and Damien are greeted by Victor the Viking on the HVCC campus as they emerge from a bus from UAlbany.

HVCC is UAlbany’s largest source of transfers, with about 200 students entering the University each year. The new agreement allows students to apply for admission at UAlbany at the same time as they apply to HVCC, or in their first semester. That means when they graduate from HVCC they’ll automatically be juniors at UAlbany, and halfway to completing their bachelor’s degrees.

As Rodríguez and the UAlbany mascot, Damien the Great Dane, got off the bus, they were greeted by the HVCC mascot, Victor the Viking. Next off the bus were the University’s executive council, deans, student affairs leaders, faculty, students and staff. Once inside the Seik Campus Center, they were joined by a similar group from HVCC, as well and the SUNY Chancellor and his staff, local media and area elected leaders. 

“This is like a wedding,” state Sen. Neil Breslin joked.

Like a wedding, planning for the agreement took time, coordination and the work and buy-in from constituents across both campuses. The dual admissions agreement includes 59 academic pathways for students to continue degree programs from the first year at HVCC though their senior year at UAlbany.

A full room is seen from the back, with a seated crowd looking at a man at a podium
A capacity crowd watches as SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. talks about how new agreements are helping transfer students complete their degrees.

“Through this partnership, the University at Albany and Hudson Valley Community College will make transfer a seamless experience for students. Dual-admitted students will be immersed in the UAlbany community while they are attending HVCC, receiving academic advising and support and participating in student life,” President Rodríguez said. “When they complete their associate degree at HVCC, they will already be on track to transfer to UAlbany and successfully complete a bachelor’s degree. I am grateful to my colleagues at HVCC for their partnership and to SUNY for the SUNY Transformation Fund support that helped make this dual-admission program possible.”  

The agreement is the first under the SUNY Transformation Fund, which allows SUNY campuses to strengthen advisement and expand programs to enable students to move across campuses to earn their degrees. The Transformation Fund was established by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature as part of the 2023-24 State Budget.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. pointed out that while 80 percent of first year community college students say they want to complete bachelor’s degrees, the reality is that only 16 percent do. 

“Why do so many fail to attain what they so clearly desire?” the chancellor asked. “There can be a lot of reasons, from a lack of money to an abundance of bad luck. But there can also be too little institutional vision, not enough positive modeling from colleges, artificial roadblocks to transfer that campuses can seem more interested in maintaining than clearing, and credits and credulity lost to an opaque and unnavigable transfer processes.”

That’s all changing with dual-admission programs like the one just signed with HVCC. In January, UAlbany launched a similar agreement with the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and later this month is set to sign a dual-admit agreement with Fulton Montgomery Community College.

UAlbany has transfer agreements with many community colleges for specified programs, but a dual-admission agreement means so much more, as HVCC President Ramsammy explained. 

“Think about it — there are more than 1.2 million transfer students each year in the United States,” he said. “On average, students lose 40 percent of their credits when they transfer between colleges, causing them to lose valuable time and money in pursuit of their goals. So, making their transition seamless is absolutely essential.”

Details of the agreement

Two laughing men accept an oversized ID card from a mascot of a Great Dane.
Damien presents HVCC President Ramsammy his own UAlbany ID card, as UAlbany President Rodríguez looks on. All dual-admitted HVCC students will get a UAlbany ID card.

Under the UAlbany-HVCC dual-admission program:  

  • Enrolled students will have junior year status upon completion of their associate degree at HVCC. The UAlbany application fee will be waived. 
  • Students will have access to dedicated counseling from a UAlbany transfer advisor-in-residence in a new office hub inside HVCC’s Campus Center.  
  • During their years at HVCC, dual-admit students will receive a UAlbany identification card, have access to the UAlbany library, meet with faculty, attend special events and participate in student activities at the University
  • HVCC transfers in the program will have priority on-campus housing options. They also will receive preference on transfer enrollment scholarships at UAlbany. 
  • Participating students can enroll in a UAlbany First-Year Experience course and benefit from UAlbany peer mentors, academic advisors and financial aid counselors.