A combination of strategies was implemented to reduce barriers to transfer from associate to baccalaureate programs, and baccalaureate degree completion. These strategies include creation of the STEM Transfer Collaborative (STC). an adaption of the CUNY Pathways articulation initiative. Components of the STC include articulation agreements, shared professional development to align pedagogy and curriculum, outreach and collaboration by both the sending and receiving college faculty to begin transfer preparation and support before transfer occurs, and regular updates to community college faculty on the success of their transfer students. The second strategy employed is Momentum to the Baccalaureate (MB), an adaption of the CUNY Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP). MB provides support for junior and senior-level transfer students who are either community colleges associate degree graduates (external transfer) or associate degree graduates who transferred to bachelor’s programs at the same comprehensive college they earned their associate degree at, which has a 2+2 degree structure (internal transfer). Components of MB include personalized mentoring, advisement, and monthly stipends to students who maintain full-time enrollment and good academic standing. Participating majors include computer engineering technology, computer systems technology, construction management and civil engineering technology, electrical engineering technology, and applied chemistry. Propensity matching was used to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies.
Participating campuses are part of the City University of New York (CUNY), and include six community colleges (Borough of Manhattan Community College, Bronx Community College, Guttman Community College, Hostos Community College, Kingsborough Community College, and LaGuardia Community College), five of which are Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and New York City College of Technology (City Tech), also an HSI, which offers associate and bachelor’s programs (2+2 structure).
Our first cohort of 40 students started upper-level studies in fall 2019, and has completed 2 years (four semesters) of post-associate degree study. The second cohort of 40 students, started in fall 2020, and has completed one year (two semesters) of post-associate degree study.
Cohort 1 students receiving MB, supports had a significantly higher graduation rate after two years than the college average. Additionally, for cohort 1, the STC seems to have reduced “transfer shock,” the typical drop in GPA the first semester after transfer. There was no statistical difference in GPA, credits completed and semester-to-semester persistence of internal and external transfers in the MB program. Cohort 1 external transfer students who received support though MB also had a statistically significant improvement in their semester GPAs for their first 3 semesters at City Tech compared to matched students who were not provided support in the junior and senior years. There was no statistically significant difference by the 4th semester.
Cohort 2 internal transfers receiving MB supports in their junior year had a statistically significant improvement in credits earned and persistence compared to a matched cohort without MB supports. There was no statistically significant improvement of external transfers compared to a matched cohort, who did not receive MB supports The inability of external transfer students to come to campus due to the pandemic, may have negated the sense of community and belonging that MB was intended to create.
Overall, these preliminary results suggest that targeted pre-transfer and post-transfer supports improve transfer student outcomes.
This project (NSF grant #1832457) was funded through the NSF Division of Education, Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program.
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“They Helped Me to Get Through”: Investigating Institutional Sources of Support at Two-Year Colleges that Facilitate the Transfer and Persistence of Black Engineering Students
While a considerable amount of extant scholarship describes the importance of and strategies for improving the postsecondary pathways of Black engineering students, most literature is contextualized within 4-year institutions.
The purpose of this article is to illuminate Black engineering students’ experiences at community colleges in order to understand ways in which they engage different types of 2-year institutional support.
We draw from data obtained through a series of focus groups and interviews facilitated between fall 2018 and fall 2019 with 13 engineering undergraduates.
Findings include evidence of important connections with faculty at 2-year colleges, such as positive engagement with them inside the classroom, as well as during office hours and general advising. In addition, we describe support from academic advisors regarding transfer pathways, as well as from campus staff who helped identify scholarships or other valuable resources on campus.
We offer implications and conclusions that highlight the tremendous capacity of community colleges to support and educate future Black engineers. We also discuss the significance of underrepresented students of color working closely with faculty, adding that research to date notes that these interactions often tenuous for underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities. Finally, we discuss ways in which our results can inform the broader landscape of undergraduate engineering education, which—like other STEM fields—has often created unwelcoming and competitive environments that lead to student attrition for students from all demographic backgrounds.
- Award ID(s):
- 2024081
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10375990
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Community College Review
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0091-5521
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 103-127
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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