Enrollment

General Enrollment Criteria for New Students

Any person may be enrolled who is at least 16 years of age* and wishes to benefit from a program of study at the College.

Students using financial aid are required to have a high school diploma or equivalent:

MCC accepts high school diplomas from accredited high schools and those earned through the Correspondence High School online program offered by UNL and accredited by the Nebraska Department of Education; however, all other high school diplomas earned online are not accepted. Individuals who have not completed high school are encouraged to obtain their GED that has been developed by the General Educational Development Testing Service of the American Council on Education. More information on the MCC Adult Basic Education Program can be obtained at mccneb.edu/adulted. 

Enrollment at the College, however, does not mean admission to all courses or programs or guarantee financial aid. The College reserves the right to evaluate requests for admission into certain degree programs and to refuse admission to certain programs when considered to be in the best interest of the College. Students may be required to take developmental coursework or prerequisite credit courses/programs prior to entering select MCC classes.

The American College Testing (ACT) placement test is not required; however, students who have taken the ACT within the last two years may have their official ACT scores sent directly to MCC Records Department. Students may bring in an official copy of their score report when meeting with MCC Success Navigators and/or Academic Advisors.

*For specific enrollment procedures for current high school students, see Admission Requirements; international students should see Admission of international students.

Enrollment Criteria

Application Process

Metropolitan Community College is an open enrollment institution; however, the recommended first step is to visit our website at mccneb.edu, to learn more about the College, program offerings, and student resources. Interested students can complete the application at www.mccneb.edu/apply and enroll in the upcoming quarter. 

Admission to Specific Programs

Some programs have specific requirements and a formal admissions process. Among the items generally considered in determining the eligibility of students for admission to programs are educational and occupational experiences and other reasonable standards to ensure that the student possesses the potential to complete the program successfully. The College and programs reserve the right to deny admission to any students who would not be employable in their respective area of study.

The College may require students to provide a medical statement from a physician or background check for admission to a specific program or when it is otherwise in the best interest of the student and/or the College.

Students who do not meet the requirements for a specific program might become eligible after completing appropriate work in developmental studies or prerequisite credit classes.

Full-time vs. Part-time Status

Students enrolled in 12.0 or more credit hours during a quarter are considered full-time students. Students enrolled in less than 12.0 credit hours during a quarter are considered part-time students.

Students wishing to enroll in more than 25.0 credit hours need to meet with an academic advisor or advocacy or disability support services counselor to request permission. Generally, only students with a 2.5 or higher G.P.A. for the preceding quarters or demonstrated academic success are permitted to carry more than 25.0 credit hours.

Reservation of Rights to Enrollment

The College reserves the rights to limit the number of students enrolled at the College and/or to specific programs. Decisions regarding enrollment at the College and to specific programs are made in accordance with any lawful criteria and/or procedures, whether published or unpublished, as determined by the College or its officials.

Students with Disabilities

MCC is committed to providing appropriate services and accommodations for any student with a documented disability through Disability Support Services (DSS). To be eligible for services, students must identify themselves to DSS and provide documentation of their disability. Once appropriate documentation is received, DSS works with students to determine reasonable accommodations. These accommodations may not always be the same as the student received in high school or at another college or university. DSS counselors are available to assist students with disabilities on an appointment-based system. Contact information for the DSS counselors can be found at mccneb.edu/Current-Students/Student-Tools/Student-Advocacy-and-Accountability/Disability-Support-Services/Contacts.aspx

Visiting Students

Students enrolled at other institutions who wish to attend MCC for coursework that transfers back to their home institution must meet the prerequisites or equivalency for the MCC courses. Visiting students should complete the Visiting Student Application at www.mccneb.edu/apply .

Students with Transfer Credits

Transferring to MCC

Students who have attended another college and wish to transfer to MCC to complete a certificate or degree program should complete the application process, call the Contact Center or email enrollmentmanagement@mccneb.edu to discuss options or to schedule an appointment with an academic advisor to discuss potential transfer of credits. Students who are non-degree seeking at MCC may be required to provide unofficial transcripts to an advisor in order to satisfy prerequisites.

Submitting your Official Transcripts

Official college transcripts are required once students have declared a major.

To mail official transcripts for evaluation, contact your previous institution and request they send the transcript to:

Metropolitan Community College Attn: Records
P.O. Box 3777
Omaha, NE 68103-0777

Students may also hand deliver an official transcript from another institution to the Records office on the Fort Omaha Campus. The transcript from that institution must be in a sealed envelope, addressed to MCC and with the word “official” stamped on the sealed envelope.

If students are having their official transcript emailed to MCC through an electronic transcript provider (Parchment, Scrip-Safe, National Student Clearinghouse, etc.), then it must be emailed to transcripts@mccneb.edu. Emailed transcripts that Do Not come from an electronic transcript provider, and ALL faxed transcripts are considered unofficial and are only used by advisors for advisement purposes. The Records office does not retain unofficial transcripts.

For advisement questions, please call 531-MCC-2400 to speak with a call center advisor or to schedule an appointment with an advisor. Click on Student Services for campus/center information.

If you would like to have prior course work reviewed to see if a prerequisite has been met for an MCC course, please send your unofficial transcript to the following email: PrerequisiteVerification@mccneb.edu

Transcript Evaluation

EVALUATING OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS BASED ON COURSES OF DECLARED MAJOR

Only courses pertaining to the declared program of study will be evaluated. If you would like to have specific courses transferred in, which do not pertain to your major, you must notify the Records office by completing the Transcript Re- evaluation/Specific Course Evaluation Request found under the Student Services Home tab in the portal.

Once courses have been brought in and transcribed, they cannot be removed and will remain on your permanent record.

For advisement questions, please call 531-MCC-2400 to speak with a call center advisor or to schedule an appointment with an advisor. Click on Student Services  for campus/center information.

Transcripts are evaluated on a course-by-course basis, so we are unable to evaluate requests via email or over the phone. Courses not offered by MCC will not be transferred in nor will the courses that are less in credit/quarter hours than the courses offered here. Click here  for the quarter to semester hours conversion chart. For courses not offered by MCC, please see an academic advisor for possible options.

Once a transcript has been received and the student is identified with a declared program of study, it takes approximately five to six weeks for the initial evaluation to be completed. There are several factors which could lengthen the processing time, including retrieval of course descriptions or additional information needed, sending coursework to academic deans for input and during peak Records office periods, i.e., end of a term, graduation.

The following parameters are used to evaluate transcripts.

• Institution must be regionally accredited by one of the following agencies:
  • Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
  • New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (NEASC-CIHE)
  • The Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
  • Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
  • Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges (SACS)
  • Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (WASC-ACCJC)
  • Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities (WASC-ACSCU)
• Course content must be similar to MCC’s
• Grade of C or better must have been received
• Credit hours must be equal
• Courses are evaluated based on the program of study and general education requirements

*Note: Due to content being regularly updated for the following courses, non-MCC courses will only be accepted if they have been taken within a specific time frame:

• HIMS 2400, HIMS 2420 and HIMS 2430 - courses need to have been taken within three years of the current catalog year.

• INFO 1001 - course needs to have been taken within five years of the current catalog year.

Once a transcript has been evaluated, students with a MCC email account will be notified via email, that their evaluation is complete. Students without an MCC email will receive a letter stating their evaluation is complete. Students may log onto their My Services account to view credits that have transferred (My Services for Students, Academic Profile, MCC Unofficial Transcripts). An email or letter will be sent if no credits are transferred.

Transfer credit is not listed on MCC’s official transcripts or calculated into the student’s GPA. Courses that are transferred in and replace courses taken at MCC may affect the GPA calculation, as transferred courses are not calculated into a student’s cumulative GPA.

RE-EVALUATED TRANSCRIPTS

If a student changes his/her academic program of study, a re-evaluation may be requested. To request a re-evaluation, the Transcript Re-evaluation/Specific Course Evaluation Request must be completed. This can be found on in the My Way portal. (Student Services, Student Services Home, Transcript Re-evaluation/Specific Course Evaluation Request)

Requests received via email and phone will be referred to the Transcript Re-evaluation/Specific Course Evaluation Request.

It will take approximately five to six weeks for the initial re-evaluation to be completed. The same criteria used for the initial transcript evaluation will be used.

Once a transcript has been re-evaluated, students with a mcc email account will be notified via email, that their transcript is complete. Students without a letter stating their evaluation is complete. Students may log onto their My Services account to view credits that have transferred (My Services for Students, Academic Profile, MCC Unofficial Transcripts). An email or letter will be sent if no credits are transferred.

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS ON FILE

MCC credit is automatically awarded for some general education courses to students who have an official transcript on file in the Records office, noting conferred bachelor’s, master’s, juris doctor, or doctoral degrees from an regionally, accredited American institution. A student must have declared a major as well as actively seeking a certificate or/and degree. Qualifying students will receive full credit for associate of applied science general education requirements.*

* All Information Technology program majors are still required to take INFO 1001.

International Transcript Evaluation

For students who wish to have an international transcript reviewed by MCC for possible credit transfer, they must first have it evaluated by a credential evaluation consultant. College degrees obtained outside the U.S. are only accepted when interpreted by transcript service members of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services. Click here to access a list of consultants. A student is encouraged to contact any or all of the consultants for cost and information. If a student chooses to have a transcript evaluated by one of the listed consultants, it is strongly encouraged to have a course-by-course review, list the course credit hours for each course and list letter grades (A-F) earned and have the evaluators provide course descriptions.

Once a credential evaluation consultant has reviewed your official transcript, please have them send an official evaluation, along with your official transcript, to:

Metropolitan Community College Records Office
P.O. Box 3777
Omaha, NE 68103-3777

International transcripts that have been evaluated by a credential evaluation consultant will be reviewed using MCC’s transcript evaluation guidelines/policies.

International high school diplomas/transcripts may also be reviewed by some of the suggested consultants. Please contact them directly for detailed information.

International Students

Admission of International Students

Prospective F-1 students need to follow these application requirements to apply to MCC:

• All applicants are required to:
  • complete an international application online;
  • provide proof of English proficiency* by providing proof of successfully completing a comparable English course with a C or higher, placing into credit ESL or ENGL/RDLS classes through MCC’s placement test, scoring into college-level English through the SAT or ACT, or taking the ESL Accuplacer, or taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The applicant is responsible for making early arrangements for the test via online registration at www.ets.org or writing to:
    
    TOEFL Services
    Educational Testing Service
    P.O. Box 6151
    Princeton, NJ 08541-6151, USA
    
    Official test results must be sent to MCC via TOEFL institutional code number 9621.
  • provide an official copy of a high school or college diploma or certification in the original language and with certified English translations;
  • submit a completed financial affidavit and a current (within six months) official bank statement or letter for a checking or savings account translated into English and in U.S. dollar equivalency; letters or statements for money markets, investments, or from employers about salaries are not acceptable.
  • sign a statement acknowledging that they will be enrolled in an international student health insurance policy identified by the College; and
• Provide a copy of the passport.
• Applicants applying for a change to F-1 status need to consult with a designated school official in International Student Services for additional requirements. Consulting with an immigration lawyer is strongly recommended.
• Applicants in the United States need to provide a copy of the I-94, admission stamp, and visa (except Canadians) or I-797 Notice of Action indicating the current status.
• Applicants transferring from a language institution, high school, college, or university in the United States are required to provide official transcripts from the respective school(s). Copies of all previous I-20s, employment authorization cards, and the Transfer to MCC form are required.
• F-1 students take assessments in order to determine appropriate course placement, as needed.
• F-1 students must register for 12.0 credit hours or more each quarter to stay in status, unless they have prior authorization from International Student Services.
• F-1 students are considered to be non-residents for tuition purposes.

*Countries that are exempt from providing English proficiency proof:

Australia

Canada (except Quebec)

Common Wealth Caribbean

Ireland

New Zealand

United Kingdom

For more information, visit https://www.mccneb.edu/Prospective-Students/Resources/International/Admission-Information/Admission-Forms, email iss@mccneb.edu, or call 531-622-2281.

International Student Health Insurance

MCC requires all F-1 international students to purchase a health insurance policy through MCC. Students pay the insurance premiums to MCC prior to class registration, and MCC submits the premiums to the insurance company. Call 531-622-2281 or email iss@mccneb.edu for more information.

Current High School Students

High School Admission Requirements

In order to enroll at the College, high school students must:

• be classified as a high school student;
• have a minimum C average in high school subjects;
• follow the enrollment policies and procedures of the College (i.e., application, assessment testing and prerequisite coursework); and
• discuss enrollment with a parent/legal guardian and a high school official.

Students not meeting the above criteria who wish to enroll should contact Secondary Partnerships at (531) 622-2213 or secondarypartnerships@mccneb.edu to determine eligibility.

AP-Advanced Placement Program® High School Credit Opportunity

The College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Program provides high school students with the opportunity to take college-level courses and exams and earn college credit or advanced placement. MCC may award college credit in fulfillment of program requirements when students have acceptable AP exam scores. A current list of approved AP courses for MCC credit is listed https://www.mccneb.edu/Prospective-Students/Student-Tools-Resources/Records/Advanced-Placement-Program-AP.aspx. For consideration of college credit, students need to have official exam score reports mailed to:

Metropolitan Community College
Attn: Records
P.O. Box 3777
Omaha, NE 68103-0777

For more information about the AP Program, visit www.collegeboard.com/apstudents.

Secondary Partnerships

MCC has established numerous successful partnerships with area high schools for the benefit of students, including concurrent enrollment courses, career academies, Kickstart Online Institute, Collegenow!, and Gateway to College. Courses are at a college content level, rigor, depth and pace. For more information, visit www.mccneb.edu/secondarypartnerships

Career Academy

MCC’s Career Academy program is designed to provide high school juniors and seniors with opportunities to jumpstart their postsecondary education. MCC Career Academies increase student knowledge in various career fields prior to high school graduation, so more informed career choices can be made. Through a MCC Career Academy, students gain practical skills for specific career areas, knowledge of safety procedures, job-seeking skills, interpersonal skills for the workplace, and exposure to a college environment. For more information, visit www.mccneb.edu/careeracademy or call 531-622-2213.

CollegeNOW!

CollegeNOW! is a program specifically designed for Nebraska high school students to jumpstart their college education with half-price tuition. Students may take any college course (for which prerequisites are met) at an MCC location or online and receive MCC credit. For more information, visit www.mccneb.edu/collegenow or call 531-622-2213.

Kickstart Online Institute

The Kickstart Online Institute (KSOI) is a series of MCC courses that are scheduled for college-ready high school students to kick start their college degrees while still in high school. These online college courses are provided in a 15-week format, count towards most MCC degrees, are transferable to many four-year institutions and are offered by NDE certified MCC instructors. For more information, visit mccneb.edu/ksoi or call 531-622-2213

Concurrent Enrollment

Concurrent Enrollment is a college credit program for high school students. Concurrent Enrollment allows Nebraska high school students to earn both high school and college credit at the same time. MCC has a written contract with some school districts to provide college-level courses to qualified high school students.  Concurrent Enrollment courses are offered at the high school by an approved high school faculty member during the regular school day.  Students register for Concurrent Enrollment courses with their high school instructor or counselor. Students pay a discounted tuition rate and may transfer their college credit to almost any college or university or use towards an MCC degree. It is the responsibility of the student to verify whether the course transfers to the receiving institution. For more information, visit https://www.mccneb.edu/prospective-students/is-MCC-right-for-ME/Enrollment/secondary-partnerships/dual-enrollment or call 531-622-2213.

Gateway to College

MCC’s Gateway to College is a nationally recognized scholarship and dual-credit high school diploma completion program. Gateway to College serves students ages 16-20 years old who have not experienced success in a traditional high school and seek a different educational setting more individually tailored for student success. While in Gateway to College, students are given the opportunity to earn their high school diploma while progressing toward a college certificate or associate degree. Interested students participate in an application and admission process. To learn more about the Gateway to College program, who is eligible, and how to apply, visit mccneb.edu/gatewaytocollege or call 531-622-2746.

Academic Advisement

Academic advisors can assist students with career exploration, identifying a degree program, and developing an educational plan to support their academic, career, and personal life goals. Academic advisors help connect students to college resources and information about MCC’s programs, services, and policies. Academic advisors work collaboratively with students, program faculty members, and other College officials.

Assessment Services (Testing)

A placement test may be needed prior to registering for classes with prerequisites or placement requirements.  Placement testing is available at each MCC Testing Services location. Students participate in basic skills assessments in English and mathematics.

Reviewing for placement test content can save tuition and time in classes. Placement review materials and success tips are available at https://www.mccneb.edu/Prospective-Students/Student-Tools-Resources/Testing-Services/Assessment-of-New-Students under “Test Preparation”. Learning and Tutoring Centers, Math Centers, and Writing Centers can provide assistance and preparation for placement tests.