The University of Missouri-Kansas City and Metropolitan Community College are joining forces to create new opportunities for Kansas City area students for an affordable, accessible and successful college education.
RooMentum is a series of programs designed to increase opportunities for student access to success in higher education in the Kansas City metro. Students who enroll in RooMentum will begin their studies at MCC but will have a dual enrollment in both institutions. The students will have access to student and academic support services at both UMKC and MCC, including libraries and financial aid. Academic advisors at each institution will work in tandem to co-advise students in the RooMentum programs.
Chancellors Mauli Agrawal of UMKC and Kimberly Beatty of MCC signed a memorandum of understanding Sept. 17 that set up the RooMentum programs, and clarified transfer policies and procedures to assist students in making a seamless transition when transferring from one institution to the other.
RooMentum will launch with three programs:
1. RooMentum “On Track” Program
(Starting Fall 2019) is designed for first-time, full-time college students who may not qualify for direct admission into UMKC. This program will provide students an opportunity to explore academic and career interests, improve academic preparation and develop key academic strategies to enhance their success. Once students complete the prescribed RooMentum On Track curriculum at MCC, they will automatically be admitted to UMKC.
2. RooMentum “Pathways” Program
(Starting Spring 2020) allows students to take advantage of dual enrollment and creates transfer pathways that promote successful completion of a bachelor’s degree in as few total credit hours as possible. Pathways allows earlier connection with major-specific opportunities at UMKC and eases transition to upper-level course rigor.
3. Bachelor of Applied Science
(Targeted for approval in Spring 2021 and implementation in Fall 2021) – students will simultaneously work toward an Associate of Applied Science at MCC and a Bachelor of Applied Science at UMKC. The program provides an opportunity for returning students to complete a bachelor’s degree that builds on technical skills and experiences gained through the completion of a technical degree.
“Today, we are announcing a major initiative designed to lower the barriers to college enrollment and college success that are too prevalent in this community, as they are in communities across the country,” Agrawal said. “With the adoption of these partnership programs, MCC and UMKC are living up to the promise, and the responsibility, of public higher education.”
“Kansas City students are looking for affordable ways to attain an education that will help them get ahead,” Beatty said, “and this partnership with UMKC creates convenient and accessible pathways to a top-notch degree.”
