January 19, 2024

Narrowing the education gap 

Transfer students play a crucial role in the research conducted by Community College Research Initiatives (CCRI), spurring advancement in higher education by addressing the gaps in access to a college degree and the societal mobility it offers. Through their focus on the transfer student experience at community colleges, CCRI is at the forefront of innovation, identifying strategies that enhance postsecondary outcomes for these students, enabling them to thrive in their chosen paths.

Situated at the University of Washington in Undergraduate Academic Affairs, CCRI leverages their research to improve educational outcomes locally and nationally, while serving as a valuable resource for community colleges and state systems. In this Q+A session, Dr. Lia Wetzstein, director of CCRI, delves into the critical work of narrowing the equity gap and creating lasting systems change.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What are the issues surrounding transferring from a two-year to a four-year institution and how do they impact students and the broader community?

Transfer barriers are a major equity issue because access to an affordable bachelor’s degree is critical in creating economic mobility for individuals and vibrant communities. A major concern is the number of two-year students who intend to transfer and complete a bachelor’s degree, but do not (31% of degree-seeking transfer students transfer to a four-year [college or university] and 14% complete bachelor’s degrees in six years). The issue is exacerbated for low-income and minoritized students.

Reasons behind these rates include a lack of clear understanding of transfer pathways or access to the courses [students need] to be major-ready. This leads to credit loss once students transfer, impacting the cost and length of time to finish. In some cases, students run out of financial aid before they are able to finish their bachelor’s degree. In addition, most students at two-year schools must work to pay for college while also supporting themselves or dependents. Many institutions do not design their course schedules or student supports with this reality in mind, thereby setting up additional obstacles to academic success and degree completion.

What are specific ways CCRI’s research contributes toward educational equity?

We focus our research and the application of our research on improving the educational pathway that most first-generation, low-income and minoritized students take, namely the transfer pathway. 

Our research on transfer partnerships [between two-year and four-year institutions] led to an understanding of the multiple ways partnerships are enacted and maintained. That understanding is being put to use to build sustainable STEM partnerships in our state [that improve] the transfer process and outcomes for low-income STEM students.

What role do collaboration and partnerships play for CCRI?

Partnerships are central to all of our work. We could not conduct our research or help facilitate transformative change without the collaboration of individuals, institutions and state-level systems. Our current Stem Transfer Partnership project brings together teams of STEM faculty and staff from nine pairs of two-year and four-year partner institutions in Washington state, who are working to improve outcomes for low-income transfer students. CCRI’s role in this work is to assist them in building sustainable local partnerships, as well as a larger, statewide community of practice that can serve as a network where they can share resources and ideas about praxis.

CCRI doesn’t work with students the same way that faculty, advisers or others in the University might. Yet you talk about the importance of centering the student experience in your work. How do you do that?

In all of our research and evaluation endeavors, we are committed to deeply understanding the student experience and drawing upon it to shape practice and policy. Only students can provide us an understanding of how their lived experiences interact with the institutional context.

Some key insights learned from our STEM transfer partnership include many students crediting a faculty member for their successful transfer, prevailing misconceptions surrounding transfer and associate degree options, the diverse sources where students gather information about transfer, and the remarkable willingness and enthusiasm of transfer students to share their experiences.

You were one of 200 higher education leaders invited by the U.S. Department of Education to attend the first-ever national summit, Raise the Bar Transfer Summit, on improving the student transfer process. Can you share any details or key takeaways from this event?

It was exciting for me to see federal recognition of the notion that improving transfer can level the playing field for access and success in higher education, and of the need to fix the transfer process, rather than transfer students.

Representatives at the Transfer Summit recognized that this work will take collaboration, partnerships and relationships between institutions and systems to make transfer work at scale. Given the recent ruling on affirmative action, improving community college transfer remains one of the most powerful tools to increase widespread access to four-year degrees, particularly for marginalized populations.

 What are your hopes for the long-term impacts of CCRI’s work?

I hope CCRI continues to be a collaborator with community colleges, state systems and communities to engage in research to improve higher education access and completion for those farthest from educational justice. And that work is part of making educational equity gaps a thing of the past.

I hope our current work with STEM transfer partnerships leads to more two-year and four- year partnerships in the state and beyond, creating long-term sustainable and adaptable solutions for their shared transfer students. 

To learn more about CCRI, visit their website.