National Report on Tracking Transfer

In following the inaugural National Transfer Summit, new reports have described a state-by-state analysis of whether community college students from all varieties of backgrounds transfer to four year institutions and successfully earn their bachelor’s degree. These studies have paved the way for transfer rates and outcome investigations by student demographic subgroup, demonstrating a lack of commitment and dedication to the improving of transfer pathways across higher education institutions.

As Tatiana Velasco, the lead author of these reports and Research Associate of Community College Research Center (CCRC) describes, “Too many students are failed by policies and practices that dictate whether and how effectively students transfer from community colleges to universities, particularly students from historically underserved groups”. The pathways currently presented do not have an effective enough strategy nor are adaptable enough for students to attain bachelors degrees.

Despite the progress that has been made in research and transfer efforts, the improvements over the past several years have been modest, with data indicating a slight raise from 14% to 16% in the transfer and graduation rates of community college students to four-year institutions, it is evident that there is room for improvement. Based on these findings and the accompanying analysis, it becomes apparent that significant changes are necessary. CCRI remains steadfast in its commitment to develop and implement these changes through our research initiatives and the formulation of effective policy measures.

Read the full reports, state-by-state data, findings, and recommendations.

Read the National Release Report

Read the National Release Report Highlights

Narrowing the Education Gap with Lia Wetzstein, CCRI

UW Today shares Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ recent interview with CCRI director Lia Wetzstein to discuss critical details of the importance of transfer. Having recently attended the U.S. Department of Education’s first ever National Summit on Transfer, Lia examines the paramount issues surrounding transfer between two- and four- year institutions and their impacts. Lia also details the work CCRI contributes to building the necessary bridges for students across pathways, centering equity and student support within the processes of transfer for continually building student success.

Photo of attendees of Raise the Bar Summit.

New Data Dashboard from the Transfer Summit

Last week CCRI Lia Wetzstein, joined fellow delegates selected to represent Washington state at the Raise the Bar Transfer Summit where over 200 higher education professionals are gathered.

This summit brings together state, institution, and other leaders in the field and is part of the Raise the Bar: Attaining College Excellence & Equity series: Tackling Transfer to Increase Access, Improve Completion, and Prepare Today’s Workforce.

At the summit, the federal government released new data. Since then, CCRC (Community College Research Center) an East Coast-based research organization, has turned it into a data dashboard and we want to share it with all of you.

https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/easyblog/new-federal-transfer-data-which-colleges-are-serving-community-colleges-transfers-best.html

STEM Transfer Partnership’s Convening 4

We are excited to share the great work being accomplished with this community of practice which is dedicated to improving transfer for STEM students from low-income backgrounds. The STEM Transfer Partnerships program convened for the 4th time last week and we experienced new connections being made for STEM pathways among 2- and 4-year institutions in WA state, sharing ideas on ways to continue growing and sustaining these partnerships, and new team members! We’ll be writing about what we’ve learned from this convening and look forward to sharing it with you. We invite you to read our previous 3 data notes on structuring STEM transfer partnerships, complex networks of community and learning from students.

NTSW: Cultures of Collaboration- Making Transfer Happen

Transfer, whilst an individual’s choice, does not come easy. There are many considerations when approaching the decision to move from one locale of education to another. Just as it is difficult for students, institutions must also work through the difficulties of losing certain students or moving them through different phases of their collegiate careers. At CCRI, we recognize these points as critical and unique experiences of transfer. As such, we centered a “Culture of Collaboration” as the backbone of the CCRI mission for transfer partnerships.

In this culture, we are dedicated to four guiding principles that allow the success of the program to continue well beyond what we can hope for. These principles are as follows: student-centered focus, win-win perspective, equal commitment to the partnership, and web of connections. These principles have allowed countless students to go through the transfer process feeling more confident and supported whilst also supporting the means of connecting institutions to one another in an equity and student-forward framework.

You can learn more about this dynamic framework HERE.

AAAS 2020

Transfer, as a critical component of student life and educational function, deserves increasing recognition and collaborative effort put forth, and we have extended ourselves above and beyond to do just that. Many of our institutions continually fulfill those connections and build up those pathways for our students to succeed. As such, in honor of National Transfer Student Week, we want to recognize our amazing members of the institutions working to continue to support and build these pathways just as much as it is vital to recognize the incredible students who have directed our research into this phenomenon.

NTSW: Overcoming the Turbulent Period of COVID-19 Through CCRI Student Support

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With Transfer being one of the most understudied yet most frequently occuring phenomena in higher education, it is important to recognize the functions at play involving societal inequities that continually contribute to adversities transfer students face. Considering transfer students already deal with intense adjustments depending on the institutions they come from (i.e. new requirements, new social communities, and completely readjusting their own approach to participation in contrasting cultural even linguistic circumstances), providing students with adequate connections, staffing support, and guidance becomes a much-needed tool in their tool kit for success.

Attending to student needs, overall, has taken a massive shift since the pandemic. Being a transfer student during this time poses a unique challenge of navigating two big transitions as they adapt to a new institution. One is the online learning environment and adjusting to regulations and rules that continue to change, and one is related to returning to the “normal” standards of the school (something students are unaccustomed to because of the pandemic’s influence).

The CCRI team sought to raise awareness on transfer student needs during this time. Our researchers, Debra Bragg, Lia Wetzstein, Elizabeth Apple Meza, & Theresa (Ling) Yeh analyzed different methodologies to support students and bolster their success during this unstable period. Read more about this in Data Note 11 of the Transfer Partnership Series.

NTSW: Prioritizing Student Input- Key Components of Our Dedication to Transfer Success

As our main goals are dedicated to supporting our transfer students in their journeys, we highly prioritize student input on how we can better our program. As such, we made sure to expand our outreach to our students, inquiring about improvements for the pathway and any and all adjustments we could make that would allow our students every opportunity for success in their respective goals.

Team members Leandra Cate, Lia Wetzstein, and Katie Kovacich created intricate surveys and structured feedback from students to gain both formal and informal data regarding how best to support the transfer student population. Emphasis on one-on-one faculty connections, degree specific inquiry, and navigational avenues to understand their educational requirements were just a few of the dynamic pieces that students provided. All of these components lend themselves to the important success of the Transfer Partnership success, lending stronger promise for the continuance and future of others within the program.

You can read more about this process HERE

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NTSW: STEM Transfer Partnership Engineering Pathway Access Increase

ChemE Capstone project

Team members Matthew Ford, Aleya Dhanji, Kira Glynn King, Jie Sheng, Skyler Roth, and Emese Hadnagy have been looking into increasing and consistently expanding outreach to minority serving 2-year and 4-year institutions to promote engineering pathways for increasing students’ upward mobility. Through countless trials and tribulations, this incredible group of individuals focused on identifying shared data needs around student success barriers, established inter-institutional data sharing protocols, and developed a framework to significantly increase, diversify, and enhanced existing outreach, recruitment and academic advising practices in support of these students.

Such work is extensively crucial in promoting equity-based educational protocols for transfer students moving through STEM pathways. Many of these students face disproportionate experiences of adversity and barriers to their success as minority students, let alone being transfer students. As such, the team’s development and utilization of a new, holistic data model for transfer pathways has been extensively successful in expanding Moser’s Transfer Student Capital model, leading to potential expansive increases in student accessibility of support during their transfer STEM experiences and prospective, successful outcomes. Such work lends a promising outlook for the future of transfer partnerships along the road, hosting great impact for student support and STEM engagement.

You can find the full journal article HERE

National Transfer Student Week

Happy National Transfer Student Week! Transfer students are an important part of the University of Washington community. As such, we wanted to highlight and celebrate the amazing community of Transfer students and prospective transfer students at our acclaimed university. Make sure to check out the amazing list of events to be held during the week at UW: https://transfer.uw.edu/stages/become-a-husky/transfer-student-celebration-week/info-page/

College Friends

Don’t forget to explore a full list of resources provided on the NTSW Website for more information:

https://www.nists.org/national-transfer-student-week

Talking about Transforming Transfer with the Chronicle of Higher Education

In August, Dr. Lia Wetzstein, the director of CCRI, participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The focus of discussion was the need to improve the transfer process to achieve more equitable outcomes in higher education. Lia had the opportunity to highlight CCRI’s STEM Transfer Partnerships, composed of nine teams from two-year and four-year institutions in Washington. These teams have been actively engaging with their students to gather valuable input. This feedback has influenced their initiatives, leading to innovative approaches to enhance the transfer student experience, particularly those from low-income backgrounds.

You can read more about the panel discussion here.