With the end of the spring semester about a month away, many El Paso higher education students will be finishing projects and preparing for final exams that could determine if they ascend to the next level – or, unbeknownst to them, earn an associate degree.
El Paso Community College and the University of Texas at El Paso have collaborated for more than 15 years on a program that automatically determines if students who meet certain criteria could earn a two-year degree from EPCC.
“I didn’t know it was going to happen,” said Anthony Chavez, a senior kinesiology major with a minor in education at UTEP who received his degree from EPCC in July 2024. “I was surprised.”
Chavez, a 22-year-old Eastsider, said he earned 21 dual-credit hours from EPCC at Pebble Hills High School before he graduated in 2022 and enrolled at UTEP.
He said he came home one day and found the large envelope, opened it and found his associate degree in multidisciplinary studies and a congratulatory letter. He set it aside in his bedroom.
“I was focused on my bachelor’s degree,” he said.
Through the program, called “auto-graduation,” the institutions track their students’ progress to ensure that as many as possible receive a college degree because of the growing importance it may have in the workforce, especially in Texas.
More than 90% of Texas high school seniors graduate, but only about 33% earn a college degree or credential within six years, according to an October 2025 report by Texas 2036, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy think tank.
The slow drive toward degrees concerns state leaders who forecast that more than 60% of Texas jobs will need some post-secondary training by 2031.
At the same time, Texas 2036 estimated that there were about 54,000 Texans from 2012 through 2022 who had earned more than 60 college credit hours – enough for an associate degree – but left higher education without an associate degree or credential. That means most employers are unaware of the skills and education those people possess.
According to EPCC, the college’s Department of Admissions and Registrar annually informs hundreds of its former students that they have completed the necessary credit hours to earn a post-secondary degree. In many cases, it is while they are pursuing their bachelor’s degree at UTEP.
“I don’t think people know (auto-graduation) exists,” said Cassandra Lachica-Chavez, the department’s executive director.
The El Paso Community College Fact Book Fall 2024, published last July, recorded 194 reverse transfer graduates from the 2023-24 academic year. Most involved UTEP, but other institutions were the University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas Tech University. Most of the degrees were associate of arts, but graduates also earned an associate of arts in teaching and associate of science degrees.
A March 2025 report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center showed that there has been a slow but steady increase nationally in the use of reverse transfers. In 2024, 176,792 students used the reverse transfer pathway compared to 150,320 in 2020.
Lachica-Chavez and Amanda Vasquez-Vicario, UTEP vice president for Enrollment Management, wrote an in-depth report in 2019 about the step-by-step “reverse transfer” process that other institutions could follow.
Both EPCC and UTEP have a memorandum of understanding so they share information about earned credits and institutional degree requirements. Students approve the sharing of their information in their enrollment application. Both sides collaborate every semester including summers to consider who may have earned a reverse transfer degree.
Lachica-Chavez chuckled as she described how she has worked on reverse transfers since 2006 when the process was done with paper forms. The process went digital a few years later.
The criteria for students to earn reverse transfer degrees include having to take at least 15 credit hours at EPCC within the past five years because degree plans change over time. Students may have transferred to a four-year institution before earning an associate degree and then dropped out usually for financial or personal reasons. Students also must have completed their 42-credit hours of core requirements by the state. They could include English, history, government, college algebra and a science course with a lab. In total, students need at least 60 credit hours for an associate degree.
“We make the magic happen without students knowing, and I wish we were better at it,” she said.
Lachica-Chavez credited past leaders from both institutions who directed their staffs to map out transferable courses that would satisfy degree requirements. She credited UTEP for programming EPCC’s degree plans into its audit system, which helps EPCC know which students may receive an automatic degree.
“That’s how we revolutionized it,” she said.
Vasquez-Vicario said that by 2010, out-of-state institutions and systems were interested in the EPCC-UTEP automated reverse transfer process. UTEP hosted schools and visited others virtually to exchange ideas and offer support.
“Our automated process helps ensure that students earn degrees they are entitled to receive, and that they are able to leverage those credentials and skills in the workplace,” Vasquez-Vicario said in an email.
Ray Martinez, CEO and president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, said more institutions across the state are finding ways to collaborate to ensure students get the academic credit they deserve.
Martinez said stronger transfer pathways was a key. He said 12 other four-year institutions across the state including Texas A&M (College Station), Texas State University, and the University of Houston collaborate with EPCC. Since its start in 2005, this streamlined process has enabled more than 7,350 students to receive their associate degrees, he added.
“When we create clearer pathways and ensure students earn credentials of value, we are not only supporting individual success, we are strengthening the workforce that will drive Texas’ future,” Martinez said as part of an email interview.
While the process is automatic between EPCC and UTEP, it is not at other institutions. In those cases, students need to opt into reverse transfer programs through their college application.
“(Students) may not know that they can do that,” Lachica-Chavez said.
The EPCC official said the college asked Texas Tech Health El Paso in 2025 if it wanted to enter into a similar agreement as with UTEP. The shared information could benefit students in pursuit of their bachelor’s degree in nursing.
TTHEP did not respond to questions about its involvement with EPCC’s reverse transfer/auto-graduation program.
People with questions about the reverse transfer program should contact EPCC’s Registrar’s Office.
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