WASHINGTON — Community colleges and four-year universities can work together to improve the experience for transfer students, a data report from the U.S. Department of Education suggests.
The U.S. Department of Education released data on the institutions in each state with the highest graduation rates for transfer students, with New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Maryland and Virginia performing the best. On the other side were South Dakota, Delaware, Indiana, New Mexico and Louisiana.
The report was released in conjunction with a November summit attended by hundreds of higher education leaders at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia.
Department of Education data highlighted the continuing problem of poor graduation outcomes for college transfer students.
Josh Weiner, founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute's College Excellence Program, said while attending community college has become increasingly common for students in recent decades, schools He said practices were not meeting this demand.
“Before the 1950s, when community colleges educated only a small percentage of Americans, not many students started at community colleges and went on to four-year schools,” Weiner said.
In a press release announcing the Northern Virginia Summit and data report, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said there is a need to increase support for transfer students.
“Our current higher education system disadvantages community college students pursuing four-year degrees, denying them credit, forcing them to repeat courses, and ultimately is making their educational journey longer and more expensive than it needs to be,” Cardona said in a press release.
Combination of 2-year and 4-year institutions
The Department of Education's data also focuses on the “dyads” that have the highest graduation rates for transfer students: community colleges and four-year universities.
The report specifically highlighted the “best-in-class” partnership between Northern Virginia Community College, known as NOVA, and the ADVANCE program at George Mason University, a public four-year university in Fairfax, Virginia. There is.
ADVANCE, launched in 2018, aims to improve student transfer experiences and graduation rates, said Jennifer Nelson, director of college transfer and initiatives at NOVA.
According to the Department of Education, 13% of students who transferred from NOVA to George Mason University graduated with a bachelor's degree within eight years.
Jason Dodge, ADVANCE executive director of George Mason University and NOVA, said there are currently approximately 4,500 students in the ADVANCE program.
Nelson said when ADVANCE was first developed in 2017, four key goals were defined to help students transfer. These goals “tend to be the hallmark” of why students join the program.
First, the program aims to increase associate's and bachelor's degree attainment among transfer students because “completion leads to completion,” Nelson said. It also aims to shorten the time it takes to complete a degree and reduce the cost of obtaining a degree. His fourth goal for the program is to increase support for transfer students, including academic advising.
Nelson and Dodge said the ADVANCE program's collaboration between schools is what makes it special.
“This is a 50-50 program,” Nelson said. “Every decision made regarding this program is a collaborative decision.”
Support for transfer students
Nelson said the ADVANCE program provides a “streamlined admissions process” for community college students seeking to transfer from NOVA to George Mason.
Nelson said students enter the program early in their time at NOVA, before they have completed more than 30 credit hours. Nelson said transfer students can spend “less than five minutes” filling out the ADVANCE program's free declaration form.
The final part of a student's onboarding process is choosing a curriculum pathway or major, Nelson said. This pathway serves as a “guide” for transfer students to attend George Mason University with an associate's degree.
There are also no transfer applications or application fees for students in the ADVANCE program, making the transfer process “seamless” for students, Dodge said.
ADVANCE specifically provides financial aid to these transfer students and has awarded more than $2 million in scholarships and grants to participating NOVA and GMU students to date, Dodge said.
In addition to having an academic advisor and access to resources from both institutions, students in the ADVANCE program also have a coach. The coach “serves as the student's primary point of contact regarding the program,” Nelson said.
Nelson said the coaches will help make sure students are staying on track and taking the right classes, and will also help connect students to resources at both institutions.
These certified coaches “recognize that what happens outside the classroom directly impacts a student's ability to excel inside the classroom,” Nelson said.
Transfer student data pattern
Weiner said he saw “similar patterns” between his study with the Center for Community College Research on National Student Clearinghouse data and the Department of Education's data.
The data collected from the National Student Clearinghouse represents 90% of college students, which is more comprehensive than the Department of Education's data report, Weiner said. He said the Department of Education's data only represents students receiving financial aid.
Mr. Weiner was a speaker at the Department of Education Summit held at NOVA in November.
The first pattern, Weiner said, is that both datasets show that community college students have lower graduation rates when they transfer to four-year universities.
The second pattern is “incredible variation in bachelor's degree achievement rates between two institutions,” Weiner said, and that variation exists even within state lines. .
“This wide variation, even within states, shows that it's institutional practices that matter,” Weiner said.
Weiner said that while state policy could make a difference, it is concerning that “some institutions are fundamentally doing better than others” within the same state. This is “troubling,” he said, because a student's chances of graduating appear to depend on which school they attend.
If a transfer student attends a community college/university combination with a low graduation rate, he said, the student is “very unlikely to earn a bachelor's degree.”
“Which community college you attend should not be a matter of luck in terms of whether you end up earning a bachelor's degree,” Weiner said.
sure success
Weiner said that since the Pell Grant program was established in the 1970s, enrollment at community colleges, which primarily served as “access institutions,” has “increased dramatically.”
Despite this rapid increase in community college enrollment, “universities have essentially not changed their practices,” Weiner said.
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Since then, community colleges have focused on helping students earn associate degrees, but also on “ensuring that students are successful after graduation and actually earn the bachelor's degree they were aiming for in college.” I haven't worked as hard as I should have for No. 1,'' Weiner said.
Weiner notes that even though “the population of freshmen and sophomores at our nation's community colleges is as large as those at four-year universities,” four-year colleges primarily focus on first-year student enrollment. He said that
“Our system has not kept up with the reality of where students go to college,” Weiner said.
Four-year colleges also prioritize first-year students over transfer students when it comes to financial aid, Weiner said.
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Steps for success for transfer students
Weiner has been researching colleges with high and improving acceptance rates for transfer students at the Center for Community College Research.
These schools exhibited three characteristics that made this success possible, he said. The university prioritizes transfer students, creating clear programs of study that “range from community colleges to four-year schools with clear course sequences and strong learning outcomes,” and providing tailored advising for transfer students. Masu.
The first step to improving transfer student success is for leaders from both community colleges and universities to come together and analyze transfer student demographic data, Weiner said.
Weiner said schools can further prioritize transfer students by bringing together faculty from two-year and four-year colleges in their respective fields of expertise for a common discussion. This will help ensure that these programs of study are “fully aligned” for a smooth transition from community college to her four-year university.
“They need to sit down and say, 'Okay, we've worked hard together to plan exactly the courses our students should take and make sure they're consistent with our expectations for them. I’m going to work.’ We’re giving students what they need,” Weiner said.
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