Community College Research Initiatives

March 19, 2016

CWID Data Note 5: Reverse Transfer Eligibility Requirements

The state-level criteria for reverse transfer eligibility impacts the number of students who will qualify for the opportunity to earn an associate’s while on a baccalaureate degree path. As part of the Credit When it’s Due Initiative (CWID), researchers closely examined the impact that eligibility requirements had on students in Colorado.

The three common criteria states use to determine if students are potentially eligible for reverse transfer are: (1) the community college residency requirement; (2) the number of cumulative college credits; and (3) no prior associate’s degree attainment. In Colorado, state legislation stipulates the specific number of credits students need to earn at both the community college and university level in order to be eligible to receive an associate’s. This is an uncommon practice, and researchers wanted to explore the possibility that the specificity may eliminate students who might otherwise be potentially eligible for an associate’s degree via reverse transfer. Policies that determine which students are potentially eligible for reverse transfer by default also determine which students are ineligible. To understand whether this might be true in Colorado, researchers asked:

  1. How many transfer students met reverse transfer eligibility requirements; and
  2. How many transfer students would meet reverse transfer eligibility requirements if the cumulative college-level credit eligibility criterion was lowered to 45 credits, not 70 credits?

The results of the study revealed that 10 percent of the students that transferred to a Colorado university from 2012 to 2013 met the eligibility requirements. If the credit eligibility we reduced to 45 credits, researchers found that 19 percent of students were eligible.

View the full data note below to understand the importance of these findings, and read more about the methodology and background.

Download CWID Data Note 5


Credit When It’s Due (CWID) is a multi-foundation funded, multi-state initiative designed to facilitate the implementation of reverse transfer policies and processes that benefit college students who have transferred from the community college to the bachelor’s level and have not secured an associate’s degree at the time of transfer. CCRI is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research this initiative. Learn more about the full initiative here