An official website of the United States government
Not AvailableCommunity college counselors play an important role in supporting students’ decision-making as they navigate toward varied academic goals. Most community college students intend to transfer and thus must navigate the regulations and policies of two institutions, and many follow nonlinear enrollment patterns. Knowledgeable, personalized advising is an important resource for students in community colleges. Yet, counselors often juggle multiple roles, manage large counselor-to-student caseloads with limited resources, and must understand and meet the needs of a growing diverse student body. This study examines the factors that affect community college counselors’ ability to assist community college students in navigating multiple institutions at once while taking classes at a four-year university through a policy called cross-enrollment. To do so, we employed focus group interviews with 29 community college counselors from three community colleges in California. We found that institutional resources and support, crosscampus collaborations, counselors’ perception of the benefits and challenges associated with cross-enrollment, and counselors’ perception of the ideal cross-enrollment student were factors that affected counselors’ ability and willingness to facilitate cross-enrollment efforts. The findings suggest that improving the uptake of cross-enrolling is contingent on institutions improving their cross-institutional collaborations and providing community college counselors with adequate professional development and resources on the policy.
more »
« less
Understanding Student Beliefs and Choices Related to Cross-Enrollment to Square Practice with Theory
College students make repeated course enrollment decisions, which are informed by their beliefs and preferences about course and institutional characteristics. Cross-enrollment, an enrollment pattern in which community college students simultaneously take a class at a 4-year college or university while still enrolled in classes at their community college, poses unique considerations. This article examines community college students’ beliefs and preferences related to enrollment on their home campus and at a nearby four-year college. We surveyed 671 transfer-intending students at three California community colleges about their beliefs around the costs and benefits of course-taking at their home community college and a neighboring university. We also conducted a choice-based conjoint experiment to understand how students weigh various factors related to selecting courses at both institutions. We find that community college students’ course enrollment decisions at their home campus are driven by cost and anticipated workload, combined with concerns about academic preparation and access to support. However, concerns about administrative burdens associated with transferring credit between institutions drive students’ decisions about course enrollment at a neighboring university. These findings are important for administrators planning course offerings and policymakers seeking to increase rates of cross-enrollment.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1928554
- PAR ID:
- 10661908
- Publisher / Repository:
- Journal of Higher education
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Journal of Higher Education
- Volume:
- 96
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 0022-1546
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1086 to 1113
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Students are taking increasingly complex pathways through higher education, yet mobility patterns other than one-to-one vertical transfer have been largely neglected in the research literature (Taylor & Jain, 2017). This paper draws on semi-structured interviews with 27 students majoring in STEM fields from three universities to explore why they undertake non-traditional transfer patterns during their undergraduate studies. Students exhibited various dynamic transfer patterns such as summer swirling at community colleges, co-enrollment at multiple institutions, or lateral transfer between two-year or four-year institutions. Rationales for dynamic transfer varied by type of enrollment pattern.. Students often received benefits from their enrollment mobility (e.g., stay on track toward degree, maximize chances for success, affordability, etc.) but dynamic transfer was also prompted by unmet needs at their home institution. Students who attended more than two institutions or who exhibited discontinuous enrollment patterns experienced the most academic, personal, and financial duress. Students’ creative and dynamic transfer patterns in their higher education studies highlight the pivotal role that community colleges play in the degree persistence of university STEM majors. Additionally, students’ dynamic transfer patterns illustrate the resourceful ways that they navigate higher education and suggests the need for institutions to reexamine how they support students.more » « less
-
In January 2020, an S-STEM grant (Grant #1930497) was awarded to East Carolina University (Greenville, NC) in partnership with three local community colleges. The community college partners were selected to participate in this program based upon their geographic proximity to the university and their offering an Associate’s in Engineering degree program. The purpose of this program was to support low-income students through scholarships and programming designed to help the community college students feel welcomed and part of the engineering program at the university before they transfer to the university. The project intended to recruit 80 total scholars in two cohorts of 40. Each cohort was to be comprised of 20 university students and 20 community college students. In-person recruiting events were planned in the service areas of each of the community colleges and in a 10-county region surrounding the university. The original plan for programming was to offer special events and speakers on each campus throughout the academic year so that all of the scholars could meet each other and learn more about the engineering profession. When events were held on the university campus, the goal was to showcase the laboratories and programs available once students complete their associate’s degree and transfer and for them to begin developing relationships with the engineering faculty at the university. When events were held on the community college campuses, the goal was for the university students to learn more about the engineering programs at each of the community colleges and to develop relationships with the community college students. The global pandemic required significant pivoting from the original plan for activities and recruitment of students. This paper outlines the recruitment and retention of S-STEM scholars at the three partnering community colleges. In particular, this paper will discuss the three very different approaches each community college took to offering classes and activities on campus during the Covid-19 pandemic and how that impacted course offerings and program implementation. This works in progress paper outlines the activities done to this point in the project and the plans for future years.more » « less
-
Parks, Samantha T (Ed.)The experience of transferring to a 4-year college, especially in STEM programs, can be particularly challenging for students. While much of the onus for preparing students for transfer has been placed on community colleges, the 4-year institutions to which students transfer have critical roles to play. With this in mind, we established the Pre-transfer Interventions, Mentoring, and Experience in Research (PRIMER) program to support students transferring into the biology department at our university. The design of this program is based around the key elements of Schlossberg’s Transition Theory, focusing on the support and strategies elements of the theory. Through a weekly academic skill course, peer mentoring, and informal academic and social supports, our goals were for students to increase their involvement in the campus community and to increase their use of academic support resources. We used qualitative and quantitative assessments to compare sense of community and use of campus resources between students who participated in our program and others. We found that students in our program strongly increased their sense of community during the semester compared to other students and used campus resources at a higher rate. Our insights from the PRIMER program can help others in developing programs to support transfer students in biology departments.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Broad-access institutions play a democratizing role in American society, opening doors to many who might not otherwise pursue college. Yet these institutions struggle with persistence and completion. Do feelings of nonbelonging play a role, particularly for students from groups historically disadvantaged in higher education? Is belonging relevant to students’ persistence—even when they form the numerical majority, as at many broad-access institutions? We evaluated a randomized intervention aimed at bolstering first-year students’ sense of belonging at a broad-access university ( N = 1,063). The intervention increased the likelihood that racial-ethnic minority and first-generation students maintained continuous enrollment over the next two academic years relative to multiple control groups. This two-year gain in persistence was mediated by greater feelings of social and academic fit one-year post-intervention. Results suggest that efforts to address belonging concerns at broad-access, majority-minority institutions can improve core academic outcomes for historically disadvantaged students at institutions designed to increase college accessibility.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2024.2422761
