As many as 80% of community college students want a bachelor’s degree, but only 16% earn a bachelor’s within six years of starting community college. Transfer systems often don’t set up community college students to succeed.
How can community colleges and four-year colleges better serve transfer-intending students? Who are these students who intend to earn bachelor’s degrees but get derailed along the way? What are current trends in transfer enrollments, nationally and by state?
In a recent webinar, Transfer Turnaround: Rebounding Enrollments and Recommendations From the Updated Transfer Playbook, researchers from CCRC, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, and the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program explored findings from four reports.
Doug Shapiro from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shared trends from the Transfer Enrollment and Pathways fall 2024 report and the Current Term Enrollment Estimates fall 2024 report, showing that transfers from two-year colleges to four-year colleges are rebounding from Covid declines at higher rates than overall community college enrollments. All of this transfer enrollment growth is from students returning from stop outs.
Tatiana Velasco from CCRC shared findings from Tracking Transfer: Community College and Four-Year Institutional Effectiveness in Broadening Bachelor’s Degree Attainment, highlighting disparities in transfer access, particularly for Black, Hispanic, Native American, and low-income students. Velasco also shared an accompanying state-by-state data dashboard practitioners and policymakers can use to analyze transfer trends in their area.
Josh Wyner from Aspen shared essential practices for improving transfer from the newly updated Transfer Playbook 2.0: A Practical Guide for Achieving Excellence in Transfer and Bachelor’s Attainment for Community College Students. Wyner highlighted key strategies for improving transfer identified by researchers through fieldwork conducted at exceptionally successful transfer institutions:
- Prioritize transfer at the executive level to achieve sustainable success at scale,
- Align program pathways and high-quality instruction to promote timely bachelor’s completion within a major, and
- Tailor transfer advising and nonacademic supports to foster trust and engagement.
CCRC researcher John Fink synthesized these findings into a comprehensive picture of the state of transfer today, which was followed by a facilitated audience Q&A.
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