SUNY Albany and HVCC announce Dual Admission Partnership

TROY, N.Y. — Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) and the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY Albany) held a press conference Thursday morning to sign off on their Dual Admission Partnership.

The partnership is a major change for the two colleges, uniting them and granting HVCC students who participate in the partnership automatic acceptance and access to resources at SUNY Albany. It is funded by the SUNY Transformation Fund, established in the state budget by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature.

SUNY Chancellor John King, Jr., HVCC President Dr. Roger Ramsammy, and SUNY Albany President Dr. Havidán Rodríguez were joined at the press conference at HVCC’s Troy campus by many representatives of both schools and elected state officials.

State Sen. Neil Breslin, State Sen.Jake Ashby, Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, and Assemblyman John McDonald were repeatedly thanked for their efforts of support and funding to make the partnership possible.

Under the Dual Admission Partnership, participating students enrolled in HVCC will automatically receive the following benefits:

-Students will be dually accepted as students at SUNY Albany and will receive a SUNY Albany student ID card. Upon completion of their Associate’s Degree at HVCC, students will gain junior-year status at SUNY Albany.

-The application fee for SUNY Albany will be waived.

-100% of the credits a student has earned at HVCC will transfer to SUNY Albany.

-Students will have access to dedicated counseling services from a SUNY Albany advisor-in-residence to assist with the process of transitioning from HVCC to SUNY Albany, inside a new office hub located in the HVCC Campus Center.

-Students will have full access to the SUNY Albany library, peer mentors, academic advisors, financial aid counselors, as well as special events and student activities on campus. They will have the option of enrolling in a SUNY Albany First Year Experience course and can take classes offered at SUNY Albany.

-Students interested in on-campus housing at SUNY Albany will have access to priority housing options. They will also receive preference on transfer enrollment scholarships.

“This partnership is special,” King remarked. “It will smooth transitions and change lives. We want every student who pursues secondary education to know that they have a place at SUNY. 80% of first-year community college students intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but only 16% of those students actually earn one. This partnership is going to fight that dismal statistic. This is the kind of thoughtful, aggressive collaboration that’s going to keep moving students forward.”

Ramsammy and Rodríguez were in partnership discussions for over five years, beginning when Ramsammy started at HVCC. The two presidents, who have grown to be close friends, smiled nonstop and spoke passionately about seeing their dreams of a partnership between the two schools finally become reality.

“This really will take us into the next millennium,” Ramsammy said. “This is NOT a transfer – get that word out of here right now. It’s about continuation from Hudson Valley to the UAlbany campus. When you enroll in Hudson Valley, on Day 1 you are a UAlbany student. When you’re done here, we will hand you that degree, but you can then continue to UAlbany and continue your path. Over 1 million students transfer every year, and they lose 40% of their credits. Isn’t that a tragedy? Today that ends. Students who continue from Hudson Valley to UAlbany will lose NOTHING.”

“This is game-changing for all the institutions that decide to embark on this,” Rodríguez commented, hopeful that other SUNY schools will follow suit with similar partnerships. “Today is a great day to be a Great Dane and today is a great day to be a Viking. This is much more than an academic partnership. This is about friendship. This is about family. And this is what family do.”

Ramsammy and Rodríguez hugged and shook hands, then exchanged school-related gifts as tokens of their friendship. Rodríguez received an HVCC green tie, presented to him by school mascot Victor the Viking, and Ramsammy received his very own – oversized – SUNY Albany “student ID card” presented by the university’s mascot Damien the Great Dane. The two were then joined by King to officially sign the Dual Admission Partnership.

“You can wear purple, you can wear green, it’s all the same thing,” Rodríguez said.

“This is a very happy day, this is even happier than being at a wedding,” Breslin said.

“This is setting the stage at the state level and at the national level, and I’m so happy to be a part of it,” Ashby said.

“What a hell of a partnership,” commented Fahy. “I cannot commend you enough.”

“I’ve never seen you two so happy,” McDonald said to Ramsammy and Rodríguez. “This took gumption, it took leadership. Change isn’t easy. Now for many students, there’s a way forward.”