Joint Agreements

Joint educational agreements allow students from one community college to enroll in a speciﬁed career or occupational program at another community college at in- district tuition rates. Students residing in ECC District 509 who wish to complete a degree or certiﬁcate not offered at ECC are advised to review catalogs of participating colleges to identify a program of study and the participating college at which they would like to study. Students pursuing a health-related program should be advised special admissions and entrance requirements often apply.

To start the joint agreement request process, students should go to https://elgin.edu/academics/joint-agreements/ to find guidelines, instructions, and the online request form. Students can contact the Ofﬁce of the Associate Vice President of Student Services & Development at 847-214-7950 or email jointagreements@elgin.edu with any questions.

Upon completion of a program, students receive the certiﬁcate or degree from the college offering the program. Students may take all program course work at the college offering the instruction or they may take general education courses at ECC, transferring the credits at a later date.

The following guidelines are used by ECC in implementing joint agreement provisions of the Illinois Public Community College Act.

1.Deﬁnition of Resident

A person is considered a resident of the college district who is 18 years of age or older and resides in District #509; or is less than 18 years of age and resides with a parent or legal guardian in District #509; or is an emancipated minor and resides in District #509.

2.Deﬁnition of a Program

A program is deﬁned as a sequence or cluster of related courses identiﬁed as a planned group of offerings leading to a certiﬁcate or Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree which is publicized in the ofﬁcial catalog of an Illinois public community college and approved by the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Individual courses, adult continuing education offerings, and non-credit offerings are not considered “programs” for approval purposes. Courses under 100 level and prerequisite courses are not covered under a joint agreement. These courses may be completed at a different school but will not be covered under a joint agreement and will be paid for out-of-district pricing. Persons enrolled at four-year institutions do not qualify for joint agreement for individual courses they may wish to enroll in during any given summer session.

3.Determination of Whether or not a Curriculum is Offered by ECC

A joint agreement is not authorized if the desired curriculum is offered by ECC. The determination of whether or not the desired program is offered is made by comparing the relevant ECC programs with the desired curriculum and its component courses in the ofﬁcial catalog of the college the applicant wishes to attend. If ECC has a curriculum comparable, as determined by the AVP, no joint agreement will be authorized. If two or more such agreements cover the same program, the student may apply for attendance at any of the institutions participating in a formal joint agreement.

4.Distance and Inconvenience

Distance and inconvenience are not legal grounds for approval of a joint agreement. If a program is offered by ECC, then it is judged to be available. The time of day, the day of the week, location, modality (online, fast track, or face-to-face), or the particular term or semester of offering for the program or its component parts has no bearing on approval of a joint agreement.

5.Enrollment Limitations

The fact that an ECC program may have limited enrollment or is temporarily closed to enrollment are not considered factors affecting approval, unless explicitly allowed by the academic dean overseeing the program. This is considered on a case-by-case basis.

6.Failure to Meet Entrance Requirements

The fact that an applicant for joint agreement was previously refused admission to an ECC program because of failure to meet entrance requirements is not legal grounds for authorizing a joint agreement for a comparable program at another public Illinois community college.

7.Split Program

Even though ECC offers the general education or non-technical courses of a program authorized for a joint agreement, ECC will approve all courses of a program rather than ask the student to split their enrollment and take the general courses with ECC and the technical courses in the neighboring district. If the student wishes to take these courses at ECC, the student should clear the transfer of the courses with the school they attend prior to registration at ECC. This does not apply to prerequisite courses which must be completed by the student prior to beginning the program.

8.Limit on Number of Programs Per Applicant

Authorization is limited to one program per applicant at any time.

9.Continuity of Authorization

If ECC has authorized a joint agreement for the ﬁrst portion of a program in another district, and subsequently ECC develops a comparable program, the student is not required to transfer back to ECC for the remainder of the program. Generally, once a program has been approved for a joint agreement, ECC continues that approval, upon annual reapplication, until the program is complete. However, should a student withdraw from a program authorized by a joint agreement (either by ofﬁcial notiﬁcation or by not attending for three consecutive semesters), and that program is subsequently developed and implemented by ECC, a joint agreement will not be renewed and the student must attend the ECC program or pay out-of-district tuition should they elect to re-enter the program from which they withdrew.
If a joint agreement is authorized and the student permanently moves out of ECC’s district, authorization is valid only for the current unexpired term or semester.
The joint agreement will not be continued or honored if the student does not follow the program for which the joint agreement was issued, as determined by the receiving school.

10.Date for Filing Applications

Applications for a joint agreement are recommended to be ﬁled with ECC at least 30 calendar days prior to the ofﬁcial beginning of classes of the speciﬁc term or semester of the college the applicant expects to attend. Once the joint agreement is approved, it is usually valid for the current or upcoming academic year, depending on the time of the request. Joint agreements must be renewed at the end of the academic year if the applicant wishes to continue. Please note: The academic year at Elgin Community College begins in the summer semester and goes through the spring semester of the following year.
Joint agreements may be issued past the start of classes only for the current semester, or up to one semester previous with a written request or indication of acceptance from a receiving school official. It is up to the student to be aware of the receiving school’s joint agreement acceptance policies. Please be aware that a joint agreement issued by ECC may not necessarily be honored by the receiving school if the student misses the receiving school’s deadlines or otherwise does not adhere to their policies.

11.Compliance Guideline

ECC will audit each semester a joint agreement is issued, and any courses taken which are not part of the approved program will not be honored for a joint agreement; that is, the entire out-of-district tuition for such courses must be borne by the student.

12.Appeal of Joint Agreement Denial

If a request for a joint agreement is denied, the student may appeal this decision. The student does this through a written appeal submitted to the AVP via email (jlong@elgin.edu). This email should outline in detail the reasons why the student feels an exception to these rules should be made. The AVP will make a decision and communicate that to the student within 5 business days. The AVP’s decision is final.