Lake Land College (LLC) is a stepping stone in many students’ educational careers. For those looking to transfer, LLC’s transfer expo can be a beneficial event. The event took place at Laker Point on Oct. 12. Over 25 Universities were represented at the event. 

Representatives of each college had their own table containing fliers, goodies, and other helpful resources. The representatives were happy to answer any questions anyone may need regarding their college or just transferring in general. 

The expo was not limited to just colleges within our state. A wide range of options were presented. Murray State University (MSU) in Murray, Kentucky, was one of the many out-of-state colleges that attended the expo. The University was represented by Alex Routen, the transfer coordinator at MSU. Routen has visited community colleges to represent MSU for about a year and a half. She attends transfer expos, fairs, transfer visits and table visits from Tuesday to Thursday weekly. She stated, “Transfer expos are important because it gives students options to where they may want to continue their education and whether it be our institution directly or another. Having opportunities like this one, especially at Lake Land College, are very important so students really get an idea beyond what they can do here at a two-year institution.” 

The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) was also among the several colleges that attended the event. Associate Director Rebecca Johnson is one of nine Representatives at UIS that travel across the state to visit all transfer expos. Johnson stated that they attend these expos because it’s expensive and time-consuming for students to make individual visits to every college they are interested in. She said, “It’s a lot easier to have campuses come to one central location, so students can ask questions to the representatives and learn more about schools and look and learn more information about maybe a school they hadn’t considered before.” UIS has a history as a transfer school. When the college was founded 50 years ago, they only admitted students that already had an associate degree from a community college. They did not start accepting first-year students until about 20 years ago. So, a majority of UIS’s undergraduate students still come in as transfer students looking to complete their degrees. Johnson stated that there are benefits to attending universities with a history of accommodating transfer students,  “At some schools, when a student transfers in, they’re kind of an outsider. Most students are there as first years and have their friend groups. Then that transfer student comes in like, ‘Hi, I’m kind of an afterthought.’ At UIS, that’s completely the opposite because two-thirds of our undergraduate students come in as transfer students. So that is still a huge focus for UIS and something we are still very proud of.”

Transferring to a University can be difficult. However, LLC wants to help in any way possible. That is why events such as the transfer expo are held on campus. There are an unlimited amount of options and resources when it comes to seeking higher education.