Category: Interstate Passport Briefing

How to Survive the Enrollment Bust

By Nathan D. Grawe, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 13, 2021

The author of this comprehensive article presents fairly sobering data on declining enrollment rates across the country but also highlights efforts at specific colleges and universities that offer possible solutions for maintaining student populations and fulfilling institutional missions. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated already declining enrollment in higher education, particularly among international students, low-income families, and larger minority populations. These declines may indicate new trends. In addition, citing research from the 1918 flu pandemic, the author predicts that the United States can expect 300,000 to 500,000 fewer babies than were born in 2019, which will be felt in the next generation of high school students.

Despite the dire picture, higher education proved agile in responding to many of the crises brought about by the pandemic, including swift adaptation to online learning, more flexible governance structures, test-optional admissions, intensified recruitment, and more financial aid options. Colleges and universities also gained a deeper understanding of their students and, in many cases, the obstacles they face. “We were reminded that determinants of success extend deep into students’ lives. These experiences should draw us into renewed commitments to holistic approaches to retention.”

Nathan D. Grawe is a professor of economics at Carleton College. He is the author of Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018) and The Agile College (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021).

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Community colleges must bridge the divide between noncredit and credit programs

By Matthew Gandal, Inside Higher Ed, January 22, 2021

In this opinion piece the author presents the differences between noncredit and credit programs and how shuttling students into the former – to help people get back to work – too often diverts students of color from higher levels of learning and better job opportunities. “The legitimate concern has emerged that the focus on short-term training for those who have been left most vulnerable by the pandemic could unintentionally exacerbate racial tracking in education.”

Gandal recommends five key elements to remedy the bifurcated system and the inequities it has fostered, appreciating the difficulty and time involved in effecting some of these changes: (1) Ensure clear connections between noncredit credentials and relevant degree programs. (2) Make noncredit programs creditworthy or credit-based. (3) Remove barriers to transition. (4) Serve all students equally. (5) Align departments and governance. Examples of institutions that have begun bridging the gap are presented.

Matthew Gandal is president and CEO of Education Strategy Group and a former senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

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Iowa Wesleyan, Southeastern Community College team up to encourage student transfer

By Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed, January 13, 2021

In an effort to boost enrollment at both institutions, Iowa Wesleyan University and Southeastern Community College will form a public-private alliance that will create an easy transfer path from the two-year college to the private liberal arts institution. The two schools will continue to operate independently and will share some revenues. Rather than an all-out merger, the alliance is similar to a “mutual growth federation,” which allows the institutions to move forward incrementally and to share students, funding, resources and employees.

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Mapping the College Transfer Process: Barriers to Student Success and Opportunities for Improvement

By Sophia Sutcliffe and Barbara Condliffe, MDRC, December 2020

This infographic presents the stages of the transfer process as developed by the MDRC Center for Applied Behavioral Science in partnership with the City University of New York. The partnership conducted interviews and focus groups with CUNY staff members and students to identify factors that impede students in the process of transferring from community colleges to earn bachelor’s degrees. The blueprint developed by the team breaks the transfer process into four stages with milestones at each stage, along with information about challenges faced by both students and staff. Interventions or opportunities are identified at each stage that could help students transfer more easily. The full report on the project is available here. 

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Introducing Tackling Transfer

By Alison Kadlec, Inside Higher Ed, January 14, 2021

Tackling Transfer is a national project focused on “fostering the conditions for scalable and measurable improvements in bachelor’s degree attainment rates for students who begin at community college, with the goal of achieving greater equity for students from low-income families and persistently marginalized or minoritized communities of color.” The initiative is supported by Ascendium Education Philanthropy, ECMC Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation, in partnership with HCM Strategies, The Aspen Institute, and SOVA.

Last fall the partners created a three-part webinar series in collaboration with Inside Higher Ed, “Can We Finally Fix Transfer?” that featured efforts from around the country to improve transfer outcomes. The project is an opportunity in this difficult time for higher education to reshape policy and practices, reorder priorities, and develop bold solutions to improve transfer. Inside Higher Ed will provide updates and information on the project’s activities throughout the coming year.

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Adding College Transfer to the Biden Administration’s Agenda

By Juana Sánchez, Inside Higher Ed, January 21, 2021 on

This short piece makes the case for adding college transfer – specifically the community college pipeline – to the new president’s agenda for higher education. The author discusses the “systemic failures of epic proportion” i.e., only 13 percent of students who start at community college earn a baccalaureate within six years; low-income students of color are disproportionately affected. A number of states have efforts underway to combat the problem, and Sánchez cites the Tackling Transfer Policy project as one of the major efforts. She urges partnership with the new administration to “deliver on the promise of college access, affordability and equitable completion.”

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Gov. Gordon and higher education leaders outline plan to strengthen state’s economy

By Will Thomas, Wyoming News Now, January 25, 2021

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon has proposed modernizing and refocusing the state’s higher education system through a new initiative intended to support the state’s economy and workforce. The Wyoming Innovation Network (WIN) calls for collaboration between the University of Wyoming, the state’s sole four-year institution, and all seven community colleges. WIN will emphasize workforce development in high potential areas; supporting and training entrepreneurs and new business startups; research and market analysis aimed at technology transfer and commercialization; and developing outside revenue sources such as corporate partnerships to provide new opportunities for students. Work is already underway to establish a software engineering program, as well as tourism and hospitality programs and entrepreneurship training programs for a variety of marketing sectors.

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Embedding & Integrating Certifications in Degrees

By Vistasp Karbhari, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington

January 20, 2021, The Evolllution 

In this article the author advocates for the integration of certifications in college curricula and on college transcripts, citing the growing disconnect between academia and the workforce. Particularly in light of the havoc wreaked on both higher education and the economy, Karbhari argues that “the devaluation of vocation-based training…could have been integrated with the disciplinary knowledge attained by college graduates” to better prepare students for employment with the knowledge and skills demanded by employers.

Certifications are issued by industry/professional organizations or governmental bodies, and, as such, close collaboration between these groups and university departments is essential for better alignment and integration with the curriculum. Karbhari suggests the use of electives, capstone courses, and internships, which may offer work experience, and also “will allow students to choose between a traditional academic experience and one focused more on certification and the workforce.” He offers ideas for funding the integration of certificates, and urges a rethinking of the “social compact with the communities we serve…to address changing trends and needs.”

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College Transfer in the COVID-19 Era: Expectations vs. Reality

By Michelle Dimino, Memo from Third Way, December 17, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has irreparably changed the landscape for college students, who have had to devise new plans to achieve their academic goals in a very uncertain environment. One sure thing to expect is more student movement between institutions. Many obstacles exist as students decide where to transfer, complete applications (again), and transfer credits. The author presents three hypothetical “transfer traps” that may await students, with a scenario, expectations, and reality for each. Importantly, Dimino also suggests steps that states and institutions can take to eliminate barriers and facilitate transfer between institutions. Solutions are at hand for states to act now. 

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Funding Community Colleges and Embracing Micro-credentials is an Equity Mandate

By Kathleen deLaski, founder and CEO of the Education Design Lab, and Rufus Glasper, CEO of the League for Innovation in the Community College Real Clear Education, February 12, 2021

Stackable credentials, or “micro-pathways,” are, according to the authors, cheaper, faster, and a better alternative or on-ramp to a degree. A micro-pathway is two or more smaller credentials that add up to a greater credential, one that is “more flexible to earn than a degree…and targeted to specific roles that lead to a livable wage.” Rufus and deLaski contend that micro-credentials are better suited to today’s learners, and they are now acknowledged as an “equity mandate,” particularly at community colleges. Unfortunately, federal financial aid does not cover most non-credit workforce-relevant programs. But institutions and policymakers can create policies that reflect the realities of today’s learners, so many of whom “lack the time, support, and economic backstop to invest four to six years or more in acquiring proxies for talent.” The authors cite research that “estimates as many as 30 million workers have the skills to earn 70 percent more but lack a credential to prove it.” Micro-pathways are a feasible solution to recognizing the skills, capabilities and job experience of today’s learners.

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New America Blog on Student Transfer

The New America website features a blog on education policy, including a series on student transfer. The latest entries, all dated February 10, include:

• How Communication Can Help Students Transfer in the Pandemic
• How States and Systems Can Work Toward Making Transferring Smoother
• Using Data to Reimagine Transfer in Higher Education
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Transfer

These blog posts offer suggestions and solutions for problems that all institutions are facing.

Interstate Passport staff and representatives presented a live briefing on the initiative to the NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education on February 18. Interstate Passport: Streamlining Transfer for Increased Student Success, featured Anna Galas, director of academic leadership initiatives at WICHE; Michael Torrens, director of analysis, assessment and accreditation at Utah State University; and Sherry Simkins, division chair, Communications and Fine Arts at North Idaho College.

Galas shared information on the background and structure of the Passport and how it prevents credit loss for all students and institutions, as well as the current focus on transfer – and solutions like the Passport – due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Torrens discussed the data analysis conducted each year that tracks the progress of Passport earners to demonstrate their success. And, as North Idaho College recently became a member of the Interstate Passport Network, Simkins shared information on that process and the requirements for joining the Network.

Details about the webinar are available here.

Registrars have the unique opportunity to engage with students throughout the college student life cycle: Meet Kathy Callies, registrar at Dakota State University

Kathy Callies serves as the registrar at Dakota State University (DSU) in Madison, South Dakota. DSU is the state’s designated information technology institution with an enrollment of roughly 2,000 students. The university offers a number of program options through which students can earn undergraduate certificates, associate degrees, bachelor’s, master’s or doctorates, either on campus or online. Kathy has been the registrar since 2014 and has held several positions at DSU since the late 1970s. She also has done considerable work in rural development and economic development.

South Dakota is one of seven states that was involved in developing the Interstate Passport starting in 2011. DSU has been a member of the Interstate Passport Network since 2016, and since then, Callies has been a member of Interstate Passport’s Registrar and Institutional Researcher Advisory Committee. In that capacity she works with her counterparts in other member states to develop the processes for data collection and reporting to the National Student Clearinghouse. The Advisory Committee continues to monitor and address issues and concerns for Network member registrars and institutional researchers.

In fall 2019 the SD Board of Regents migrated from Colleague to Ellucian’s Banner student information system. Migrations cause lots of detours and Passport was one of those for the DSU system. Kathy and her team have been working with National Student Clearinghouse to implement some of the advantages of academic progress reporting and are hoping to continue to move forward into the next levels next academic year.

Callies believes that Interstate Passport’s concept of learning outcomes rather than course-by-course articulation is profoundly powerful. The learning outcomes are developed and held by faculty to implement what has already been reviewed. Earning a Passport is one objective for students to accomplish and then build from. Callies urges registrars to not overlook incoming freshmen who come in with lots of credits from dual credit coursework, AP exams, etc. Earning a Passport is something very much within reach for these students and is a benefit for longer-term goals.

A final word from Kathy: “Registrars have the unique opportunity to engage with students even before they finalize their decision to enroll in our institutions – via shopper student evaluations, etc. – while we also have the privilege to continue to engage with students throughout their enrollment and hopefully to graduation from our institution and even beyond! I often share that I have an addiction to students. With today’s technology assets, those of us who love our rural settings find that we can reach far beyond what was possible just a few years ago. Students are not so confined by location as they may have once been and earning a Passport is another tool to help urge them forward to realize their potential.”

The Campaign for College Opportunity recently released a new research report on the social and economic reality faced by Black Californians.  As noted by in the forward by Dr. J. Luke Wood,

“[Postsecondary] Institutions must foster concrete change that better enable our colleges and universities to provide a dignified experience to our Black students. While this has always been important, its criticality has been exposed by today’s dual pandemics—the pandemic of COVID-19 that has disproportionately impacted Black communities and the pandemic of anti-Blackness that has a unique strain of undervaluing and criminalizing Black lives and minds.”

This report examines measures related to college access for California’s Black high school students and the rates at which Black students, once enrolled in college, are supported in meeting their educational goals. Included are recommendations for California’s policymakers and education leaders to ensure that equity is at the heart of their work and to create a system of higher education in which Black students matter.

Report highlights*:

By the time California’s students arrive at the threshold of college, their inequitable experiences translate into significant disparities in the rates of college readiness and attendance by race/ethnicity.

• As the largest higher education system in the state, the California Community Colleges serve the majority of undergraduate students across all racial and ethnic groups. In the 2018–2019 academic year, of the Black students enrolling in postsecondary education, 64 percent of Black undergraduates attended a community college; 6% enrolled in a University of California institution; 14% enrolled at a California State University institution.

• In 2017, California legislators replaced no-credit remedial classes with college-level instruction at community colleges. This report suggests that that policy change has increased the number of Black community college students taking classes eligible for transfer to the University of California: “specifically, 48% of Black community college students “in 2019 completed transfer-level English, compared with 15% four years earlier.” At the same time, 27% of Black students “completed transfer-level math, up from 7% in 2015.”

• Graduation rates for Black transfer students at California State University and University of California institutions have increased, but they are still lower than that of their white peers.
  • 36 percent of Black transfer students graduate from CSUs in two years and 71 percent in four years
  • 50 percent of Black transfer students graduate from the UCs in two years and over 80 percent in four years.

Select Report Recommendations for the state of California:

• Commit to the state’s goal of ensuring that 60 percent of Black Californians in the workforce hold a degree or high-value credential by 2030;
• Strengthen transfer and ensure equitable access to the Associate Degree for Transfer for Black community college students;
• Develop a state-wide longitudinal data system so that policymakers and institution leaders and staff and ensure Black students are succeeding.

*Source: Reddy, Vikash and Michele Siqueiros. The State of Higher Education for Black Californians. Los Angeles, CA: The Campaign for College Opportunity, February 2021.

Click here to read the full article.

The Student Transfer Destinations by State database, located on the Interstate Passport website, contains transfer data provided by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center on all 50 states. Data for the 2014 cohort was added to the database this fall, bringing the total number of cohorts to five.

The database contains information on the number of students at public institutions who transferred in the United States and its territories both in state and out of state for the 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 cohorts. Each cohort of students is made up of first-time students of any age who began their postsecondary studies in one of these years. Cohorts include both full-time and part-time students and exclude students who received any degree or certificate from a two- or four-year institution prior to 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014, respectively. By design, the data are intended to provide a snapshot of student transfer patterns in the U.S. and its outlying territories. While many students may transfer more than once, this database only tracks the first transfer.

Users are able to query which states their students transferred to, as well as which states incoming students transferred from, and if the sending and receiving institutions are two-year or four-year institutions. Data on in-state transfers are provided as well.

The database is a useful tool to determine patterns of transfer between states that may foster recruitment and cooperative efforts among institutions. NSC reports that 45 percent of transfer students will transfer more than once so the database offers important information to states and institutions on transfer students’ sending institutions or destinations.

Check out the movement of transfer students in your own state here.