Transfer Partnerships

The High-Performing Partnerships Study (HPTP) is focusing on how higher performing transfer partnerships between 2- and 4-year colleges and universities (which may identify as partnerships) work on the ground. By higher performing, we refer to relationships between 2- and 4-year institutions that enroll higher proportions of historically underserved students who are achieving higher rates of success in baccalaureate retention and completion than other institutions in the study. Our mixed methods studies in states across the country examine ways in which 2- and 4-year institutions influence student success, and we disseminate our findings broadly in the academic, policy, and practical literature.

More information can be found in the project profile about HPTP and preliminary research findings in Data Notes and conference presentations.

HPTP Data Notes

Data Note 4: High-Performing Transfer Partnerships and Promising Practices
June 2018
Data Note 4 analyzes qualitative data from institutional pairs which are shifting from seeing themselves as operating singularly and separately in how they serve students and summarizing promising practices that support and maintain partnerships.

Data Note 3: Initial Research on Multi-Institutional Attendance Patterns and Racial Equity
March 2018
Data Note 3 finds that students who follow multi-institutional attendance patterns (i.e. “swirlers”) are more likely to be African American and students who both receive Pell grants and who have enrolled in remedial coursework are less likely to follow MIAP.

Data Note 2: Including Racial Equity as an Outcome Measure in Transfer Research
February 2018
Data Note 2 finds that high-performing transfer partnerships were almost exclusively pairs with high percentages of White students, none of the institutional pairs revealed equitable outcomes for transfer students of color compared to White transfer students.

Data Note 1: Introduction to the High-Performing Transfer Partnerships Study
January 2018
This document is the first in a series of Data Notes that share results from our High-Performing Transfer Partnerships study. It explains the research rationale and provides a brief overview of existing literature on transfer partnerships.