THE COLLEGE TRANSFER
STUDENT IN AMERICA:
THE FORGOT TEN STUDENT
Bonita C. Jacobs, Ph.D.
President
North Georgia College & State University
September 13, 2011
DEFINING TRANSFER
• “Traditional”
• 2-Year to 4-Year public
• 2-year to 4-year private
• Other Patterns
•
•
•
•
•
4-4
4-2
2-4-4
2-2-4
Transfer Swirl
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MYTHS ABOUT TRANSFER
STUDENTS
All transfers go to community colleges for two
years and finish the last two years at a four-year
school
Forget transfer orientation! They won’t come
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MYTHS ABOUT
TRANSFER STUDENTS
 Transfer students do not want to be
involved on campus
 Parents of transfer students are not
interested in being involved with the campus
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MYTHS ABOUT
TRANSFER STUDENTS
 Transfer students do not live in
residence halls
Transfer students are inferior
students
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MYTHS ABOUT
TRANSFER STUDENTS
Retention strategies are not needed for transfer students
Transfer students do not connect with the university
Transfer students will not donate to the University
following graduation
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MYTHS ABOUT
TRANSFER STUDENTS
Transfer students go to a two-year school from
high school only because:
• they are less mature
• they don’t have the money for a four-year school
• they don’t have the grades to get into a four-year
school
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MYTHS ABOUT
TRANSFER STUDENTS
Transfer students who go to a two-year
school from high school do not have
goals or aspirations
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MYTHS ABOUT
TRANSFER STUDENTS
 The majority of transfer students
are non-traditional in age
International students do not
transfer
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BOTTOM LINE:
Transfer Students Are
Diverse Within Themselves
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WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT
TRANSFER
Nearly 60% of all students who
graduate from a four-year institution
entered college at a different institution
(NECS, 2007)
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WHAT WE KNOW
ABOUT TRANSFER
11% were at some point co-enrolled in
more than one college
(NECS, 2002)
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TRANSFER STUDENTS:
ETHNICALLY DIVERSE
Racial and ethnic minorities account for about 48% of the
community college population
(Phillippe & Patton for AACC, 1999)
“At the national level, community college students represent
higher percentages of underrepresented, non-traditional,
low-income, and lower performing students”
(Falconetti & Jones, 2009)
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TRANSFER STUDENTS:
ETHNICALLY DIVERSE
Among all undergraduates:
57% of Native Americans are in community colleges
47% of Asian/Pacific Islanders are in community colleges
47% of Blacks are in community colleges
55% of Hispanics are in community colleges
(NCES, 2007)
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TRANSFER &
GRADUATION RATE
Transfers are less likely to graduate in four years
• 51 months - single institution average
• 59 months - two-institutions average
• 67 months - three or more institutions average
But just as likely to complete a degree program
(NCES, 2007)
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STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
• NSSE and other research suggest that transfer students are
less involved in clubs, service, research with faculty, etc.
• Intrinsic to student factors, such as more need to work,
older and have families, etc.?
• But, we must be careful to not generalize transfer students.
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Do we exert same amount of
energy on transfer success
initiatives as on freshman success
initiatives?
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A DECADE PAST:
The Policy Center on the
First Year of College found that:
Only 1/3 of institutions offer
special services for transfer students …
(Swing, R. L. 2000)
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… Those institutions that did not offer special
services explained that:
Their transfer population was too small
Traditional programs care for transfer needs
(Swing, R. L. 2000)
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… Further, Swing found that
• Of those who do offer special services they
are usually limited to:
• Transcript evaluation
• Transfer-specific orientation
• Institutions assume that transfer students are
“experienced” and do not need other services
Those days are gone…
Swing, R. L. (2000)
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TRANSFER ISSUES:
STATE PRACTICES
Much variance from state to state
…but all weighing in!
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TRANSFER ISSUES:
ARTICULATION AGREEMENTS
 Depending on the campus, can be quite diverse
• Institutional
• Departmental
 Those who implement the agreements should be involved in the
formulation of the details
• Including faculty is vital
 “Transfer” vs. applicability to a particular degree plan
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TRANSFER ISSUES:
ORIENTATION
• Transfers are diverse! Thus, orientation must be diverse
• What about parents? Can they affect the NSSE data on
transfer engagement?
• What about engagement?
• Involvement from the top
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TRANSFER ISSUES:
ADVISING
 Developmental as well as prescriptive – including clarification of
goals and discussions regarding choices
 Knowledge of articulation agreements, common course numbering,
computer transfer systems is imperative!
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THE 3 STAGES OF
TRANSFER
Stage One: What They Expect Before Transfer
 60% expect to feel marginalized & worry about navigating the system
 92% struggle with their need for guidance
 93% are concerned with fitting into the university culture
 “I am sure I’ll be lost”
eSource, Karen Owens, February 2009
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THE 3 STAGES
OF TRANSFER
Stage Two: Student Perception at MidSemester
 95% express a need for more “personal attention”
 88% seek more “academic integration”
 51% desire “more social interaction”
 86% of students identified poor communication in and between
institutions as a significant issue
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THE 3 STAGES
OF TRANSFER
Stage Three: Recommendations for Success
 49% recommend transfer advisors
• “someone to call their own”
 49% recommend a transfer-specific orientation
 27% ask for a step-by-step transfer checklist
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A PERFECT STORM
Voluntary System of Accountability and the College Portrait
• http://www.voluntarysystem.org/index.cfm
Legislative Pressures (Federal and State)
Statewide Agreements & Common Course Guidelines
Returning Veterans
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IPKIT
E D U C AT I O N. M I S S O U R I . E D U / O RG S / I P K I T / I N D E X
 Institutional Audit of Policies, Practices, and Attitudes Affecting Transfer
Students
• Version 1: For Community Colleges
• Version 2: For Baccalaureate Degree Institutions
 Conducting Focus Groups about Transfer
 Constructing Surveys about Transfer
 Coding Open-Ended Responses to Survey Questions
 Data Sources for Information about Transfer and Degree Attainment
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FOE
W W W. J N G I . O R G
John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in
Undergraduate Education
Foundations of Excellence for Transfer
2-Year and 4-Year Versions
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WE KNOW THAT
THERE ARE:
• Students Who Do Not Plan for Transfer
• Course Applicability Limitations
• Reverse and Swirling Transfer Issues
• Financial Aid Issues
• 2-year and 4-year Communication Issues
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 Only 33.5% of students intending to transfer report that they
received their transfer information from their college counselor or
advisor
 36.4% of students feel they do not have enough information to
transfer successfully
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education 32
INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
What data do you have on transfer students?
What data should you have?
The amount of information available about first-time
students is far more complete than information about transfer
students
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ASSESSMENT!
• Of articulation agreements
• Of success rates from Campus A to Campus B
• Of transfer orientation
• Of transfer advisement
• Of transfer student engagement
• Of transfer student expectations
• Of transfer student satisfaction
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NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR
THE STUDY OF TRANSFER
STUDENTS
Texas Transfer Success Conference
• May 22, 2009
10th Annual Conference
• January 25-27, 2012, Fort Worth, Texas
http://transferinstitute.unt.edu
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