This paper examines the challenges community college students encounter when transferring to four-year higher-education institutions, focusing on the gap between their transfer aspirations and actual success. Despite the availability of substantial financial aid in higher education, transfer students continue to face numerous challenges that impede their integration and success at new institutions. These obstacles arise from a combination of institutional factors and individual student characteristics. Utilizing Pascarella’s model, this study underscores the importance of support programs in raising institutional awareness of the diverse challenges transfer students face and the necessity for tailored strategies to facilitate their successful transition and retention.
- Award ID(s):
- 1914613
- PAR ID:
- 10274864
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Community College Journal of Research and Practice
- ISSN:
- 1066-8926
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 16
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Beginning the path to a bachelor’s degree in community college has the potential to be a more cost-effective higher education option. Previous research on transfer students has focused broadly on curriculum alignment, articulation policies, and academic advising in efforts to reduce credit loss. Credit loss can significantly impact transfer students and result in unnecessary time and costs for them. Minimal research quantifies and visualizes credit loss or explains in detail how and why it occurs throughout students’ entire education trajectories. This study visualizes credit loss for bachelor’s programs seeking engineering transfer students who began at in-state community colleges using data from the sending and receiving institutions. Findings revealed that credit loss can occur throughout the entire degree pathway, including high school dual enrollment and advanced placement credits to community college credits. This work has implications for informing degree pathways and policies that promote successful transfer and degree completion.
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The State of California, which has the largest four-year public university system in the United States, does not have an associate degree for transfer (ADT) in Engineering. Therefore, most engineering students who transfer from community colleges do not take lower-division engineering courses and, on average, transfer students must attend two to three additional years of college to obtain a degree at four-year institutions. To identify the gaps in engineering education for transfer students and to increase their success, the research team will focus on a “transfer-ready” curriculum and a faculty learning community. The BRIDGE team, including three partnering institutions, collaborates on identifying the critical success factors (CSFs) for the transfer student’s success, the development of the transfer pathway program, and the Engineering BRIDGE Program to enhance academic preparations for transfer students. This paper summarizes the findings from the Engineering BRIDGE Program during the Summer of 2023 from August 7 - 11, 2023 (five days). A total of 22 incoming transfer students (to Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering) participated in this program, assisting in the transition and ensuring academic/career success by enhancing transfer students’ sense of belonging, and addressing course content gaps between institutions. From the analysis of the pre-/post-surveys of the Engineering BRIDGE Program, the program significantly improved—in terms of transfer readiness—students’ conceptual understanding, technical communication, and higher-order cognition.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2021.1887007
