As students are shuffling into your offices with spring/summer registration questions, you might be hearing, “what the heck is MTA?”  We’ve got you covered!  For those who aren’t aware, the MACRAO Agreement was replaced by the Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA) this fall.  Public Michigan universities will begin accepting MTA’s as blocks of courses going toward bachelor’s degree general education requirements.  Why the change, isn’t that what MACRAO did?  Yep.  MACRAO, however, wasn’t accepted by all public Michigan universities.  MTA will be (ostensibly).  MACRAO also frequently required some (or much) fine-tuning to meet individual transfer institution requirements.  MTA won’t require so much (supposedly).

What about students already pursuing MACRAO?  Good question!  I’m glad you brought it up.  They’re covered.  Students who’ve begun courses prior to fall 2014 can still do MACRAO (or they can do MTA if they want) as long as they are continuously enrolled while completing it.  Continuously enrolled means not taking three or more consecutive semesters, including summer, off.  Students who take three consecutive semesters off are no longer eligible for MACRAO.  Students starting NMC coursework fall 2014 or later aren’t eligible for MACRAO, either.

So what does the MTA look like?  It looks a little like MACRAO, but there are some changes:

• The Associate in Science and Arts (ASA) containing MTA will be 60 credits, not 64 (MTA, like MACRAO, can be completed without finishing the ASA. But completing the ASA will automatically complete the MTA or MACRAO).
• Courses going toward the MTA need to be 2.0’s or better.
• There is a Group 1 Mathematics requirement of MTH 120 or above.
• Two fewer credits (6 instead of 8) are required in each of the Humanities, Natural Science, and Social Science areas.
• Group 1 Mathematics courses won’t count toward the Natural Science requirement (for MACRAO, Group 1 Math could count toward the Science/Math area requirement).

For a degree worksheet outlining MTA’s requirements, see here.  For an MTA/MACRAO comparison worksheet, see here.  If you’d like to view an MTA training the Advising Center gave last spring, see here.

Please get in touch with the Advising Center if you have questions.