Despite around 80 percent of community college students hoping to earn a bachelor’s degree, only 16 percent will have completed a four-year program six years after transferring, according to data from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University.
There are a variety of hurdles that impact transfer and completion, some of them challenges rooted in bureaucratic processes at the accepting institution.
To improve transfer outcomes and alleviate hurdles for students, colleges and universities have built programs and interventions that mitigate credit loss and information gaps as well as establish a sense of belonging for transfer students. Inside Higher Ed compiled six initiatives launched recently that improve transfer students’ experiences.
- Hostos Community College, CUNY: Peer Mentors
The community college, part of the City University of New York system, launched a mentorship program three years ago to help students interested in completing a bachelor’s program identify their next steps after leaving Hostos. The four mentors particularly help with articulation, ensuring all students accepted into a four-year institution complete their enrollment and registration.
Mentors, former Hostos students themselves, are responsible for tracking student registration, performing outreach, offering walk-in appointments for support, hosting transfer workshops and helping with the intra-CUNY transfer management portal. The initiative has seen transfer application rates rise from 23 percent in fall 2022 to 75 percent in spring 2024, with mentors making over 7,000 contacts with students.
- Santa Clara University: Expanded Guaranteed Admission
This summer, Santa Clara University in California expanded transfer admission agreements with 43 community colleges, allowing eligible learners to transfer to the university’s business, engineering or arts and sciences schools.
To qualify for the agreement, students must complete prerequisite coursework and attain a GPA of 3.3 or higher. Transfer students are also eligible for transfer scholarships, which range from $5,000 to $10,000 for the academic year.
- Collin College: Co-Enrollment on Campus
Starting in spring 2025, students at Collin College Technical Campus have a guaranteed transfer pathway to complete their bachelor’s degree at Texas State University or the University of Texas at Dallas.
Eligible students can enroll in one of six available bachelor of science programs, which are specific to the four-year institution. Texas State offers degrees in computer science, exercise and sports science, electrical engineering and engineering technology, and UT Dallas awards degrees in computer information systems and technology and in business analytics.
Through the co-enrollment model, dubbed Academic Alliance, students complete their four-year degree on the Collin College campus but can utilize student services at either the two-year or four-year location, as well as online and in-person advising, student organizations, study abroad opportunities, and library privileges. Academic Alliance students also get free admission to home athletic events this fall.
Texas State will also provide learners with a $2,000 scholarship award that is renewable for a second year.
- Jacksonville State University: Discounted Concurrent Enrollment
Launched in 2022, Transfer Prep at JSU is a concurrent enrollment program that allows students to complete university courses while enrolled at the community college before transferring officially. The program is available for six programs: teacher education, business, criminal justice, emergency management, forensic investigation or social work.
Students who participate receive half off tuition and do not pay a general university fee while receiving the benefits of a JSU student ID for athletic event attendance, library access and other student support services.
To qualify, students must be in good standing and currently enrolled at a community college and have satisfied relevant prerequisites for their program of choice.
- Dallas College: Shared Governance and Meta Majors
A new partnership between Dallas College, Texas A&M University–Commerce, Texas Women’s University and the University of North Texas at Dallas established in July created the Dallas Transfer Collaborative, which aims to improve transfer in the region.
Within the agreement, institutions committed to a shared governance structure, academic alignment, real-time credit-to-degree technology, coordinated advising and student services, and data sharing.
First, the institutions will build meta-majors between the college and university partners, which include a block of lower-division courses that will apply to related majors. The initial group of meta-majors this fall contains business, education and health sciences, with future plans for STEM and information technology programs.
Later, the collaborative will create a transfer hub website that will highlight all relevant information for learners navigating transfer from the college to a four-year institution (including those outside the collaborative). The site will include credit-to-degree mapping to make credit transfer visible for students.
- California State University: Transfer Degree Planner
In 2023, the California State University system created a digital portal to help simplify the transfer process and connect California Community College students to a CSU campus that suits their educational journey.
The platform, CSU Transfer Planner, is accessible via phone, tablet or desktop and is a central hub for eligible students, CSU staff and community college counselors to work together. Students can learn of their eligibility, research campuses and degree programs, track their units, and more.
Students can also use the platform to enroll in a Transfer Success Pathway dual-admission program, which targets recent high school graduates enrolled in a community college and committed to transferring within three years.
CSU Transfer Planner became open to all Cal State students in 2024, helping to reduce credit loss and speed up degree completion.
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