Born from the original purpose of community colleges is the transfer function, which furnishes a portion of their students an opportunity to continue toward a baccalaureate degree by transferring from two-year to four-year colleges. However, empirical data and other reports indicate sharp declines in transfer rates from two-year to four-year colleges. In an effort to facilitate the transfer process, state coordinating boards and legislatures have introduced state-mandated articulation policies.
This article poses the following research question: Does the existence of statewide articulation agreements increase the probability of vertical transfer from two-year to four-year colleges? Additionally, the article culls from postsecondary data on individual characteristics to identify other factors impacting the probability of transferring and to suggest policy considerations that will likely increase student transfers from two-year to four-year institutions.
This article was published in the Review of Higher Education, vol. 29.