Transferring from a community college to a university can be daunting—But Spokane Colleges works hard to make sure every student can transition smoothly to the next stage of their education.
Every year, students like Elyseé Kazadi take advantage of Spokane Colleges’ transfer agreements to capture both the unique benefits of a community college and the benefits of earning an advanced degree at a university.
Elyseé’s story
Elyseé Kazadi’s educational career has been motivated by one question: How can I make more of an impact on other people’s lives?
When he arrived in Spokane, Elyseé was enrolled in English as a Second Language at Spokane Community College through refugee relief services before going on to earn his Master of Administrative and Non-Profit Leadership at Whitworth University—all while also working as a retention specialist at SCC.
Elyseé’s dream to use his education to help others never changed, although the path to get there did take some unexpected turns.
After completing the ESL program in 2018, he enrolled in Adult Basic Education nursing assistance prep classes to prepare for his credit courses.
“I've always wanted to be in the medical field or in general, just help people,” Elyseé said. “Then I said, ‘wait a minute’. I've been a refugee for a while and a majority of the time, refugees don't think about policies made for them.”
The best of both worlds
This “aha” moment would lead Elyseé to switch paths and pursue an associate transfer degree from SCC that he completed in 2021, followed by a Bachelor of Political Science from Whitworth completed in 2023.
“One of the opportunities I had here at SCC that I didn't find at the university was the community. There's no better community than here,” Elyseé said. “This community here at SCC kind of reflects the real life outside, because these are people you meet outside, the people who will be your coworkers or people who serve you at the grocery store. And so that experience cannot be replicated at a university level.”
Thanks to an agreement with Whitworth College, Spokane Colleges transfer students with a 3.4 GPA or higher will be guaranteed admission to Whitworth and receive a $25,000-plus scholarship.
Learn more about how you can enroll at Spokane Colleges with a transfer guarantee to Whitworth or a handful of other colleges and universities across the Northwest.