The Urban Community Colleges Transfer Opportunities Program (UCCTOP) was initiated in 1983 to stimulate the transfer of minority students from community colleges to universities. Collecting data on the effects of the UCCTOP activities proved to be one of the most difficult aspects of the project as community colleges typically do not have reliable data on student transfer. Most community colleges rely on the universities to which students transfer for data, with varying results. Even in states in which a central agency collects transfer data, there can be problems if individual campuses define transfers differently or if the existing data are out of date or difficult to interpret. UCCTOP colleges' efforts to gather information on associate degrees awarded and student transfers reveal more about data inconsistencies and the force of external influences than about UCCTOP's effects. According to the data submitted, the number of degrees awarded increased between 1981-82 and 1985-86 at every college except Miami-Dade Community College (Florida), which showed a 51% decline. The number of transfer students showed a similarly steep decline at Miami-Dade, a strong increase at the Community College of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and level or inconsistent patterns at the other UCCTOP colleges. Findings, though difficult to compare or interpret because of numerous errors, missing data, and variant sources of data and definitions, suggest that (1) external forces strongly affect associate degree completion and transfer rates; (2) the effects of programs such as UCCTOP must be assessed after several years have elapsed; and (3) the comparison of transfer rates between colleges is precarious. (MDB)