Studies have explored the relationship between travelling non-linear post-secondary (PSE) pathways and student achievement in multiple jurisdictions. This research aims to overcome some of the major challenges faced by scholars in this area by leveraging a new administrative linkage in Ontario, Canada containing detailed information on students'…

Community colleges offer students points of entry to a better way of life, and one of the most significant ways they do so is through low-cost accrual of college credit that can be applied to a bachelor's degree upon transfer to a four-year college or university. Most students who attend community college intend to transfer; in fact, in a 2022…

Upward transfer from a community college to a four-year institution is a distinct component of higher education and has long been envisioned as an accessible and affordable route to a bachelor's degree for students who are Latinx, Black, underrepresented Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native, as…

The American Council on Education (2021) estimates that 38% of fall 2019 undergraduate students will change schools within six years. Of that group, only 13% are projected to earn a bachelor's degree (NCES, 2019). Clearly, there is a disjoint between the goals of transfer students and the programs that are in place to help them meet their goals.…

The information asymmetry and inequitable consumer dynamics that have existed in the market for used cars are strikingly similar to problems encountered by transfer students in higher education. Specifically, we can think of transfer articulation as a marketplace, where students are the buyers, colleges and universities are the sellers, and…

The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to highlight the experiences of undergraduate STEM vertical transfer students. Through the lens of Schlossberg's Transition Theory, this study sought to better understand how students make sense of the transfer credit process and which support structures facilitated their understanding.…

Beginning the path to a bachelor's degree in community college has the potential to be a more cost-effective higher education option. Previous research on transfer students has focused broadly on curriculum alignment, articulation policies, and academic advising in efforts to reduce credit loss. Credit loss can significantly impact transfer…

Better understanding of how students achieve vertical transfer is vital for advancing equity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors. Among the many sources of barriers, delays, and complexities demonstrated in previous research as influencing vertical transfer outcomes, the transfer admission process has been generally…

In higher education, significant efforts have been made to improve student success outcomes. In this dissertation, two important problems related to student academic success are considered. The curriculum plays a crucial role in shaping student success. Curricular complexity has been shown to be inversely related to the graduation rate of…

The American Institutes for Research® and rpk GROUP jointly conducted this study to improve understanding of students' experiences and time investment with the college transfer process, and the role of institutional policies, processes, and technologies. Expanding the understanding of the institutional barriers that exist during the transfer…

CUNY Transfer Explorer (CUNY T-Rex) was developed to simplify the transfer of credits and represents an at-scale technology tool solution that provides transparent and up-to-date information about transfer credit equivalencies to students, faculty, and advisors. In addition to collaborating with CUNY to develop CUNY T-Rex, ITHAKA S+R undertook a…

More than half of community college students nationwide intend to pursue a four-year degree; however, in Texas only one in four community college students transfer to four-year institutions successfully. Among students who do transfer to a Texas four-year institution, roughly 60 percent go on to graduate with a bachelor's degree. The result is…

Background: The potential for broadening participation in engineering among Black undergraduates via transfer pathways is considerable, given their large share of the community college population. By understanding the opportunities and challenges presented within the context of transfer, this potential can be realized. Purpose/hypothesis: The goal…

The increasing demand for a computationally trained workforce that reflects Latinx population growth in America has encouraged institutions to revisit exclusionary practices and develop initiatives that support Latinx undergraduate student persistence in Computer Science (CS). CS is necessary not only to keep pace with the rapid change in…

The transfer between two-year and four-year colleges is a critical path to baccalaureate attainment. Yet students face a number of barriers in transfer pathways, including a lack of coherent coordination and articulation between their community colleges and four-year institutions, resulting in excess units and increased time to degree. In this…